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The Representation of the Feminine, Feminist and Musical Subject in Popular Music Culture

The Representation of the Feminine, Feminist and Musical Subject in Popular Music Culture

University of Wollongong Research Online

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2001 The eprr esentation of the feminine, feminist and musical subject in popular culture Emma Mayhew University of Wollongong

Recommended Citation Mayhew, Emma, The er presentation of the feminine, feminist and musical subject in culture, Doctor of thesis, Faculty of , University of Wollongong, 2001. http://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/1743

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THE REPRESENTATION OF THE FEMININE, FEMINIST AND MUSICAL SUBJECT IN POPULAR MUSIC CULTURE

A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree

Doctor of Philosophy

from

UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONONG

By

EMMA MAYEW B.A. (Hons)

ARTS FACULTY

2001 CERTIFICATION

I, Emma Mayhew, declare that this thesis, submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy, at the University of Wollongong, is wholly my own work unless otherwise referenced or acknowledged. The document has not been submitted for qualifications at any other academic institution.

Emma Mayhew

18 August 2001

CHAPTER TWO FEMINIST POSTSTRUCTURALISM, THE POPULAR MUSICAL TEXT AND THE AUDIENCE - THEORETICAL DEBATES 58

Introduction 58 General Concepts and Debates 58 Discourse, Power and Agency 62 and Power 72 Theorising Music as Social Text 74 Musical Discourses and Power 78 , a Female Aesthetic, and Representation 81 Theorising the Audience: Texts, Readers and Producers 88 Conclusion 94

CHAPTER THREE PART 1 - PATRIARCHAL POSITIONINGS 96

Introduction 96 Femininity: Subjectivities, Discourses and Divides 96 FemmeFatale/Whore 10 0 112 Child/ 118 Androgyny and the 126 Conclusion 132

CHAPTER FOUR FEMININITY PART 2 - 'FEMININE' VOICES 134

Introduction 13 4 and Genre 135 Femininity and Vocality - Divas and Discourse 140 Divas - Feminine Excess, Feminine Strength 144 The Guitarist and the Construction of the Masculine Subject 162 Conclusion. 168

ii CHAPTER FEMINISM PART 1 - FEMINIST IDENTITY, REPRESENTATIONS AND CONSTRUCTIONS 170

Introduction 170 Popular Debates and Feminism in the 171 Music Press: Representation of Feminism and the Feminist Subject 174 /Postfeminists 177 /Pop 180 Riot Grrrls/Rebel Grrrls 184 Angry Women 189 193 Strategies of Identification and Practice 196 Fan Talk 202 Conclusion 206

CHAPTER SIX FEMINISM PART 2: FEMINIST VOICES, FEMINIST DIVAS 207

Introduction 207 Representing Feminist Genres 209 Representing Feminist Divas 216 Conclusion 241

CHAPTER SEVEN MUSICAL SUBJECTIVITY 243

Introduction 243 Valuing Musicality 244 Authorship 247 Individuality 260 Originality 262 Honesty 266 Non-Commercial Interests 271 Conclusion 275

iii CONCLUSION - a New ? 277

APPENDIX A - Performer Biographies 289 APPENDIX B - Usenet Groups, Mailing Lists, Websites 295

BIBLIOGRAPHY 302

iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank the supervision of Ellie Vasta, in particular for encouraging me to consider doing a PhD in the first place, an option that I would never have chosen without her belief in my ability. Also I would like to

Dr Andrew Wells for getting me over the line and making me believe that it was possible.

Colleagues to thank include Gillian Vogl who has become a friend and un- judgemental listener, as well as Mary Medley (soon to be Dr) for great conversations and providing me with the motivation to finish. The dear Dr

Frank Hayes who had such belief in me as both a student and human being -1 miss you. Dr Rose Melville for pointing me in the right direction when I needed it. Thanks also to a various assortment of friends, academic and postgraduate collegues, both old and new, who have provided me with inspiration, kindness, practical support, advice and lively discussions over the years including: Rebecca Albury, Terry Pickkett, Jonathan Dobinson, Jacqui Besgrove, Angela

Pratt, Melanie Swalwell, Dr Fiona Borthwick, Colleen McGloin, Luke Thompson, and Kristy Newman.

I wish also to acknowledge my family for their quiet support. In particular my mother for providing me with a feminist consciousness at a very early age. My father for material support in times of hardship and for never judging the choices I have made. To my sister for a great friendship and whose musical talent as guitarist, and all-round rocker, I will always admire. You are living proof of the female challenges to the patriarchal positionings discussed in this thesis. To my brother, our afternoons of listening and singing along to our

v favourite records remain a loving memory and have provided a long term interest in popular musical experience from the fans point-of-view.

Finally a big thank you to Adam Vose for his support, patience and love.

VI DEDICATION

This thesis is dedicated to Belinda Dean and all other amateur female rock who have worked and contributed to local cultures and who have been role models for women and in their local communities.

vii SYNOPSIS

The of commercial popular music has been dominated by patriarchal representations of women and interpretations of female performance. This is

certainly true even with the commercial success of female musical stars like

Madonna and in the global marketplace. This thesis argues

that women are still understood in terms of patriarchal categories and

within the mainstream music press. The femme fatale, androgyne,

the little girl, the mother figure and the temperamental diva are all contemporary icons of feminine performance both visually and sonically. In particular this thesis analyses the popular music print media and the way the

music critic's voice continues to mobilise the musical subject as masculine in

character.

However, it is also argued that the identities of the feminine, feminist and

musical female subject are negotiated through contradictory social discourses

which provide alternative spaces for the interpretation of women's musical

. The singer's voice, depending upon the meanings attached to the

singer's vocal and lyrical perspective, can be identified with many

different subject positions including outspoken rebel, commercial siren

seductress and/or creative individualist. Furthermore, different groups and

individuals apply, to their reading of female musical stars, various criteria on

which to judge and interpret the musical celebrity text. Ten female performer

are examined through media representations and internet fan talk to analyse

the contradictions, inconsistencies and power of dominant and competing

narratives in the media to position, undermine and celebrate the performances of popular musical women.

viii INTRODUCTION

Background and Focus

This thesis explores the representation of female subjectivity in the context of popular music culture. It analyses the representation of female musical performers through three subject positions - the feminine, the feminist and the musical performer - via discourses of gender (femininity), the political subject

(feminist) and the creative subject (musical performer). It discusses the way fernininity, feminism and female musicality are represented, constructed and deconstructed by the popular music press and by the internet fans of these performers and traces some of the struggles over meaning. These struggles are understood through a feminist poststructuralist position which questions how patriarchal power relations deploy discourses and practices to represent female subjectivity.

My interest in popular music and female performers comes from both the pleasure derived from listening/viewing popular female musical artists and from a frustration at the position of women in the at all levels.

One only has to look at the mainstream media to gauge, in quantifiable terms, the inequality between men and women in terms of access to and participation in music production, performance and the constructed media representations of

'credible' creative status. This pattern of exclusion, as well as devalued representations, is reflected in many 'best of lists which perennially appear in the music press. For example, counting up the male/female mix of performers

1 in 's 1997 list of definitive "...best ever made...", covering artists and groups from the to the 1990s, female solo artists make up only ten percent of the total albums listed. If gender-mixed bands are added to this percentage, the number rises to twenty percent of all the acts listed being either female performers or bands with female members (McGee, DeCurtis, Coleman,

Robbins, Ali, 1997:48-79).x This simple content analysis shows the quantifiable inequalities of women's place in both in terms of access and in the construction of musical artistic values.2 It also confirms a continuing need for feminist research into areas of which marginalise female participation and the creative value of female performances.

Female performers have seen global commercial success in the 1990s, with this success often being represented as an indication of growing equality between men and women in the public world of popular culture performance. It has certainly been a trend since the 1990s to interpret the growing commercial success of women performers as representing a new era of equality in the gender diversity of the industry at a performance level. Headlines of various articles in the mainstream music and popular press, such as "Recording

Industry Takes on a Feminine Face" (Tianen, 1999) and "Why Rock Chicks are no Longer Under the Thumb of any Guy" (Cooper, 1993), reflect the way

'women in rock' have become a regular story of 'success' in the construction of music news (see Coates, 1997). This narrative of women's rise to equality is often articulated in terms of the diversity of genre or sounds women have been

1 I use this as a pertinent example because Rolling Stone has acquired a mainstream but classic status in the music publishing world. In terms of setting a '' agenda, Rolling Stone has been the premier popular rock publication. This 'best of example confirms the gender conservatism of this publication and also reflects the preferred male readership of this magazine since its publication in 1967 (Frith, 1983:168-1171). This is not surprising as rock connoisseurship has been constructed around particular types of masculinity including nerdiness and coolness (Straw, 1997:9). Rolling Stone, and other publications, such as Creem, have provided a textual space for these identities to emerge and be reproduced. 2 These lists can be found in abundance in the music press and most reflect a gendered division of music value and participation. For example Spin magazine, a more 'alternative' style of publication than Rolling Stone, presented its "Top 40 most vital artists in music " women performers made up 25 percent of the whole list (Spin, 2001:81-112).

2 involved in as performers. In a Rolling Stone issue, dedicated to the theme of women in rock, a journalist articulates the variation and numbers of female talent in a review of the female acts of the 1990s noting that they include:

...sounds that range from the lyric-driven lilt of singer / to the stark, slashing chords of bands. There is also a lively, lucrative middle ground; here, artists like Alanis Morissette, and Melissa Etheridge can make depression and desire rock. Echoes of Pure Patsy (Cline) have surfaced, uplifting and undated in the voices of k.d. lang and that 15-year-old phenom [sic] LeAnn Rimes. Good-natured is available in the cartoony , the Village People of our time. And on the fringes, edginess plays well: and Polly Jean Harvey flirt brilliantly with punk aestheticism and frank erotica (Hirshey, 1997b:72).

However, this positive representation of the diversity and success of female musical performers needs to be tempered by the recognition of competing and often dominant discourses which seek to marginalise, ignore and devalue female musical subjectivity, especially of female performers within commercial pop genres. One contradiction which emerges out of the main question posed by this thesis concerns the way women are represented, on the one hand as successfully 'penetrating' male musical domination, yet on the other under- represented in terms of artistic values. In what ways are popular female musical performances constructed in terms of gendered identities? More specifically, what are the gendered power relations which construct aesthetic elements, aesthetic values, creative discourses and the construction of the category 'women'? To help explore this question, several concepts are mobilised - subjectivity, patriarchal power, agency (resistance), and discourses of authenticity - and discussed below.

3 Representing Female Subjectivity

The concepts central to this research, which are outlined above, explore how patriarchal power works within the context of commercial musical performance and production, as well as questioning how it might be possible, via new female performances and audience readings, to actively change these relations.

The three subject positions (femininity, feminist, musical) are examined to explore several sociological questions stemming from these main theoretical concepts including the of representations of 'authentic' subjectivity, as well as questioning the patriarchal construction of aesthetic values, and finally highlighting possible feminist readings using specific examples.

The interest in subjectivity/identity as a focus for this thesis lies in the more recent theoretical influence in social theory of poststructuralism. Although other theoretical influences have problematised the unified, self-knowing subject (including and psychoanalysis) it has been poststructuralism which has finally put to rest the idea that there is an essential self.

"Poststructuralism is seen as denying the authenticity of individual experience by decentring the rational unitary, autonomous subject of liberal humanism..."

(Weedon, 1987:125). Weedon here uses the concept of authenticity in a specific way to define humanist thought, and the ideal subject within this paradigm.

The concept of the authentic subject/subjectivity has been used more broadly throughout this thesis to refer to the ways in which the subject has been understood as both 'natural' and based on idealised masculine attributes. The main themes of the thesis are centred around the connection between subjecthood and authenticity, the way identity is represented through a continuum of the authentic/unauthentic, as well as the way women are

4 subjected to discourses of authenticity. Furthermore, the study of contradictions and differences in the way authenticity is made meaningful (in different contexts and in relation to different subject positions) has been developed with the goal of articulating some possible feminist readings of the representations of feminine, feminist and musical identity.

The deconstruction of the subject by postmodern/poststructuralist theories, and the challenge to the notion of authentic identity, has been problematic for many strands of feminist thought. This is because for feminism(s) the notion of a specific identity, which understands itself as an essential subject, is not a notion that is easily abandoned. Thus in this thesis the relationship between subjectivity, agency and power is not merely an abstract theoretical problem but one concerning feminist politics and its relationship with female subjectivity.

With the recent shift from a modernist humanist understanding of the subject to a decentred one, this re-theorisation of the subject has also called into question the notion of individual agency and action. For feminism(s) this has been disruptive in formulating a feminist politics which requires organised and unified collective action. Some feminists reject the notion of a multiple subject as undermining feminism at the core of its usefulness (see Jefferys, 1996).

Others have sought ways of developing a more wide ranging understanding of feminist agency by not only looking at conventional political channels and institutions but at all aspects of the social as well as the psychological.

However, whatever the feminist position, this new focus on difference has been both timely and problematic. It is these contradictions in theorising female agency, as both active and limited, which is one of the main theoretical interests of this thesis.

5 The problematisation of agency through these shifts has also presented new theorisations of power which reject a simplified dominant/subordinate dichotomy, and the notion of power as a fixed and negative force. One of the reasons for this move has been the conception of power as productive. For

Foucault power is productive, thus allowing for a feminist analysis of gendered power relations which are not simply men versus women. Most importantly, it has allowed for the analysis of resistance, not at a traditionally macro-political level but at the micro level, at the edges of what have been traditionally understood as the centres of power. Parallel, but also independently to the re- ti____king of power as a force that always says "no" (see Foucault, 1980:119), has been the feminist understandings of patriarchy as a complicated and flexible system of female oppression. Patriarchal power is not necessarily monolithic nor is it a fixed system of organised male domination (see Walby, 1990). We need to see power in terms of the specificities and contexts of the power relations being analysed - relations which may have many different consequences and outcomes for the various subjects positioned by them.

Thus in this thesis power is understood as both restrictive but also productive.

This definition of power allows for individual and group agency, even though it may seem that the 'real' power (e.g. economic, political) lies elsewhere. With this approach to power in mind my goal is to illustrate, through a feminist reading, where women are re-organising, re-appropriating and re-positioning patriarchal discourses and the subject positions they construct. For example, androgyny as a strategy of representation is explored in this thesis in terms of the politics of re-appropriation. Performers like have used androgynous visual images to position themselves as credible musical artists.

By distancing herself from a normalised visual femininity, Lennox has gained a reputation as a 'high brow' pop artist. Here we could acknowledge that

Lennox, as a commercially successful performer, has been able to re-

6 appropriate the masculine and re-define the female pop star in the public sphere.

The approach to power in this thesis also considers the issue of patriarchy as a dominant set of institutions and practices. Thus agency has limits. Although power is not conceived of as a simple possession of individuals or groups, this thesis still regards patriarchy as a significant set of power relations and networks which constrain representational meanings and which have real and significant effects. Thus Lennox's visual style can be read as a mask of performance, her 'real' self being defined through normalised femininity established through knowledge circulated about her heterosexuality, motherhood, and charitable deeds for the homeless. Thus although patriarchal discourses of appropriate femaleness have changed to incorporate the figure of the professional, career-minded , this figure is made manageable through traditional femininity. .

Agency is an important concept in this thesis in relation to assessing the possibility of a resistant or negotiated feminist reading of current female performers within the mainstream commercial context of music production and consumption. Agency is defined not just as the capacity of individuals to act and effect outcomes, but a collective and structural practice. Agency is understood through a poststructural theory of resistance/negotiation that is closely connected to the conception of power as not only constraining and oppressive but simultaneously enabling. Thus the broader theoretical question of agency and resistance is relevant to this thesis in relation to evaluating the possibility and impact of feminist alternative readings in exploring the possibilities for feminist interventions into popular music culture?

7 Lastly, the concept of authenticity is explored as a defining discourse in the representation of the three subject positions. Authenticity as a discourse can be understood as a set of statements giving an object, person, or event a 'truthful' status. Yet depending upon where and by whom it is used, the criterion which makes up this status changes over time and place. For example, a traditional rock discourse of authenticity, based on the emergence of male rock bands such as and , was based on the ability and dedication to performance, instrumental skill, a knowledge and interpretation of black rhythm and , and a lack of professional musical training. With the emergence of , foreshadowed by the Beatles in their move from British beat to , many of these criteria were changed, expanded and undermined. The recording process became increasingly the measure of artistic skill, and getting the right recorded sound became extremely important. These two discourses of rock artistry have at times clashed and at others have merged. For example, the live performance has become more powerful and meaningful as records have become the most accessible and normalised musical products (Thorton, 1996:27). Certainly the criteria of being able to perform live in front of a crowd still remains at the heart of rock's claim to authenticity.

Authenticity is important in two ways for this thesis. First, authenticity is a central organising concept in both popular and 'intellectual' representation of contemporary popular music within the last forty years. Sarah Thorton defines its importance as a set of feelings which a listener, whether fan or critic, ascribes to a musical work/performance:

Music is perceived as authentic when it rings true or feels real, when it has credibility and comes across as genuine. In an age of endless representation and global mediation, the experience of music authenticity is perceived as a cure for both alienation (because it offers feelings of community) and dissimulation (because it extends a sense of the really 'real') (Thorton, 1996:26).

8 This thesis explores how and why certain musical performers are represented as authentic, or inauthentic musical subjects and how this relates to patriarchal discourses and power relations. In the analysis that follows of critics' evaluations and fan talk, discourses of authenticity often operate around a dichotomy of versus the mass commodity (Martin, 1993:66) with women often being 'naturally' positioned as representations of non-skilled musical celebrities. In deconstructing the 'mystification' of authentic musical performance the goal is to uncover the social constructions of musical genius as masculine. However it is also important to explore the resistances, negotiations and re-appropriations of male defined authenticity and evaluate the possible feminist readings and identifications. This poses the question of how can feminism value/re-value female performed musical forms discourses and practices, challenging values of musical authenticity?

An example of this is apparent in some fan's responses to the practice of lip- synching, that is miming to a vocal backing track, in live concert performances. Some fans in the internet group alt.fan.madonna argued for an acceptance of the practice on the grounds that the criteria for a live show was not the demonstration of sonic musical skill but rather an event of multi-layered spectacles in which in which aspects of performance such as the dancing was seen as an value which outweighed the 'authentic' presence of

Madonna's own 'live' voice.

In a second way authenticity is of interest as it relates to modern subjectivity.

As this thesis seeks to explore and deconstruct the common-sense understandings of an essential subject, authenticity as a label for a humanist understanding of the subject seems appropriate. Thus authenticity as it relates to humanist thought expresses the idea that the self has a central inner core

9 which is often, both in intellectual theories and common-sense knowledge, thought of as our true human nature, whether that be valued as good (e.g. essentialism) or bad (e.g. common-sense notions of criminality). In deconstructing authenticity as a discourse rather than a central truth my poststructuralist position approaches subjectivity as a process and thus as a locus of change. This again links into agency and power, as subjectivity, whether labelled authentic or inauthentic, is the terrain on which social action is constructed. It may have boundaries and borders made within the historical context and culture but it is people who must embrace and live within the subject positions and discourses on offer. In fact, the individual subject is a site of conflict and contradictions which can ultimately open alternative possibilities of explaining and thinking through 'personal' experience (Weedon, 1987:32-34).

It is these struggles over what constitutes the authentic which are of interest to this thesis and how these claims to authentic subjectivity are incorporated, negotiated and resisted in the context of current popular music culture. In terms of the defining of the authentic subjectivities of the feminine and the feminist, many social groups have claimed the right to define who she might be. Feminists, medical practitioners, politicians, lawyers, etc, and discourses concerning motherhood, the family, paid work etc, have all argued for various versions of the 'authentic' feminine. Feminism as an identity has also been part of this struggle, with various feminist, non-feminist and anti-feminist perspectives concerned with what practices, policies, and lifestyles which reflect a 'true' feminist agenda and even maybe a 'liberated' feminine subject.

10 Three Subject Positions - Femininity, Feminism, Musicality

Having explored the main concepts and issues of this thesis, the specific subjectivities relevant to this research are those of femininity, feminism and musicality. Femininity has long been of interest to feminist theorists and writers within many disciplines and practices. This is because femininity is a position that a woman engages with in constructing "...her sexed subjectivity, her sense of self as female..." (Sheridan, 1995:88). Feminist writers have problematised femininity, making various concerning both the constraints and positive aspects of the feminine as a set of cultural values and as a lived subjectivity (see de Beauvoir, 1953; Friedan, 1973; Millet, 1971). In particular, the feminist study of popular culture and women's representation has shown that femininity is a central ideological concept in the study of women in contemporary culture (see for example Williamson, 1978; Coward, 1984; Wolf, 1990). Some of the main debates have been in regards to the reasons behind the segregation of masculine and feminine roles in various societies, as well as

questioning the possibility and usefulness of the feminine as a differentiated set

of experiences for feminist goals.

Femininity in this thesis is conceived of as a range of experiences and identities which may actually cause tension and contradictions as well as providing a

'stable' point-of-view for the subject to conduct every-day life. The feminine is not a biological position, as it is applicable to both . Rather it is the

social meanings attached to our which matters in understanding the way

femininity works as a label of identity. Furthermore, the distinction often made by feminists between the concepts sex (male/female) and gender

(femininity/masculinity) needs to be challenged as a false dichotomy. The idea that there is a clear biological sexual difference between the sexes can be

11 resisted through deconstructing the basis on which this difference is founded, thus approaching biology as a socially constructed category which changes over time and place. That is not to say that the body becomes merely symbolic, rather that the experiences of our bodies and their biological makeup are more diverse than the simple sex division allows. In fact the male/female paradigm is reflective of the broader dichotomous thinking that this thesis seeks to deconstruct.

The second subjectivity explored is a feminist identity. Certain patriarchal and feminist discourses articulated through the media and via fan groups are examined, as well as exploring the way female performers position themselves as either feminist, non-feminist and/or anti-feminist. Like femininity, feminism(s) is conceptualised not as a fixed set of philosophical concepts, practices or goals but as a historically constructed position which can change both over time and place. Feminism is a discourse, like any other, constructed in and through interests and contexts. We can define feminism, at the level of discourse, as "...the unending process of generating questions and critical interpretations of gender" (Felski, 2000:201). In addition, feminism, as a subject position, is continually negotiating with other dimensions of social identity such as race, age, class, sexuality etc. Yet what is of particular interest is not just that different meanings exist concerning a feminist identity (although this point will be explored later), but rather how patriarchal discourses (e.g. , rationality, motherhood, heterosexuality) represent feminism as a marginalised subject position. This is exemplified in the way female and male rock journalists often differentiate possible feminist female performances of say P.J. Harvey, or

Courtney Love, from second wave feminism. The label feminist is often eschewed by critics, fans and the performers themselves as a way of escaping the negative associations which have built up around feminism as perceived within a narrow activist definition. Some critics are at obvious pains to make a

12 distinction between a radical, 'ugly', and strident feminist identity and a

'modern' female conscious perspective. For example in an issue of Vox P.J.

Harvey is described as rejecting any obvious feminist identity by describing her as in no way a "...singing Andrea Dworkin..." (Phillips, 1993:60). The critic's voice normalises Harvey's performance through an artistic discourse of individual freedom and - marginalising any reading of Harvey as a political subject.

The last subject position examined is musical creativity, as constructed through patriarchal discourses and the power relations which they contain and deploy.

The term musical is used rather than because a musician simply plays a , whereas the term musical also implies there is a basic skill or proficiency at making music, whether that be composing, singing, playing or performing. Thus for this thesis the subjectivity of 'being musical' also carries with it another set of discourses about the evaluation of musical performance. This evaluation is centred on a broader identity of artistic creativity. It is the exploration of the evaluation of creativity within the musical context which is of special interest here. The exploration of this subjectivity in my thesis relates to understanding the way cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1984) and aesthetic forms are linked to gender and power relations, which designate aesthetic values along a masculine/feminine divide.

To simplify, musical creativity as a subject position is a question of understanding the gendered power relations between aesthetic forms, aesthetic values, the construction of the category 'women', and patriarchal discourses.

This involves comprehending how female creative subjectivity is negotiated through the other female subject positions of the feminine and the feminist. In particular, the concept of creative authenticity is explored in the way various discourses construct the contemporary female popular music subject. For

13 example, one discourse which is examined is representation of female creativity from an essentialist perspective, which presumes "...a unique female nature..."

(Humm, 1989:64). Discourses constructing vocal performances and skill often draw on essentialism to elevate as well as devalue the female singer. Particular patriarchal institutions and practices often mobilise essentialist understandings of the voice/singer (which in turn are often seen as common-sense) as a

'natural' extension of her body and her emotional state.3 This can then be contrasted with a musical skill which is learnt and 'rational', requiring efforts and practice to 'master'. For example, criticisms of a female performers musicality can be made on the grounds that while she may have a natural singing voice, other musical elements and roles represented as requiring learnt skill and rationality (e.g. producer, engineer, ) are the musical structure and work behind her own success. When analysing aesthetic values, such powerful discourses need to be both recognised as constructing women as a category, as well as evaluating aesthetic objects and performances.

Method

The examination of the theoretical questions and focus described above was approached through researching the media representations and fan discussions around popular musical performers. The gathering of popular cultural texts was focused on ten individual female performers.4 Each performer was considered alone as well as in relation to the other performers. The use of many examples allows for wider scope in making generalisations but retains the interest in the specificity and detail of each performer. The performers were

3 This kind of essentialism can also be seen in 'common-sense' understandings of Afro- American and performers. 4 The performers include: , , P.J. Harvey, Annie Lennox, Bjork, Madonna, Alanis Morissette, , and the bands, Hole and L7 (see Appendix A).

14 chosen because of their prominence in the press at the time of the research process, as well as considerations of diversity and analytical interest in relation to the questions of feminine, feminist and musical identity. For this particular research project textual material, relevant to each performer, was gathered from the three sources - the music press, fan online discussion groups and recorded music texts.

In general the method or approach to these sources can be broadly described as textual analysis, combining the concepts of discourse and deconstruction, to construct a feminist analysis of the popular representations of each performer.

The method of textual analysis focuses on linguistic (written journalist reviews, profiles and fan talk) and non-linguistic sound acts (texture, volume, range, etc) to draw out the discourses which are often naturalised. A more precise label which represents the method used here is feminist intertextual deconstruction. This describes the deconstructive analysis of many texts (multi- text analysis). This method "...means looking for contradictions within or between texts that illustrate the pervasive effects of patriarchy and capitalism"

(Reinharz, 1992:149). The analytical tool of deconstruction is used here to pull apart the taken-for-granted representations which construct female and male subjects. Deconstruction, as a technique, assumes that ideology plays a role in limiting what is said, written, sung and it also presumes that all authors and actors understand themselves and others from inside ideologies. Language is central to this technique because it is the medium through which meanings are created and also constrained (Feldman, 1995:51).

One can look at a text through the deconstruction method in several ways including looking at what is not said, dismantling dichotomies and analysing disruptions (Feldman, 1995:51). For example, by using the technique of deconstruction this research has set out to find the contradictions centred on the

15 issues of -making roles. By deconstructing the music press and its representation of female performers some male defined dichotomies have been pinpointed (discussed in Chapters Four onwards) which continue to create dominant meanings around the subject positions of the feminine woman and the feminist.

The concept of discourse is mobilised to trace the way language is organised into ways of speaking/talking/writing/singing. This is relevant not only in terms of traditional linguistic representations but also in terms of non-linguistic sounds. Like language, certain musical forms articulate ideas and identities while silencing others. This is especially related to the conventions which make up particular musical genres. For example, is conventionally male dominated and uses the combined sounds of the electric guitar, electrified bass and drums as the central identifying sound. The consequences of these conventions feeds into a rock discourse which articulates masculinity through the absence of women as band members.

Textual Sources

In relation to the feminist textual deconstructionist approach, three main textual sources are drawn on to construct and deconstruct the representations of female popular performers. These include the music press, internet fan groups and the music texts themselves. These are discussed below in regards to their significance to the research interests of this thesis.

The music press provides access to the discourses, circulated by the mass media, about popular music and gender. For this research, the music press is the basis for a textual analysis which takes into account used to represent the of a female performer, as well as the style of music she

16 represents. The role of the music press in creating images which constrain certain representations of female musicians/performers is explored through an examination of the discourses and stereotyped roles which represent each female performer as feminine, feminist and/or musical identities.

At the start of this research there was very little published research into this arena of the music media. Throughout the academic interest had centred on the visual music culture of the video clip and music television. Some have pointed out the weaknesses in such emphasis by neglecting the meaning- making source of the music itself (see McClary, 1991:148). Also this concentration on the visual image has ignored other mass media forms which construct reading positions for a music audience. It is only since the 1990s that any substantial research has emerged on the contemporary music press as an equally important place were music is represented, valued and marketed to music audiences (see Negus, 1992; Therberge, 1991; Evans, 1998; Finnegan,

1999). Although many music buyers and fans do not read internationally recognised magazines like Rolling Stone,5 or weekly broad sheets like New

Musical Express, they will often buy one-off copies of such publications because they contain a musician of interest. This was observed in the information exchanged by fans on the internet groups examined in this thesis. The critical style and values of such longstanding publications are often taken up in other media, including television and radio, and have a more general influence upon the small readership who are often key players in communicating ideas and opinions about the popular music scene (Frith, 1983:165). Keith Negus explains in his research that the music press is one influential source of marketing and publicity for musical products. Reviewing albums has become a crucial space

5 Throughout most of this thesis the edition of Rolling Stone was used because of the cost of buying the American edition at import prices, as well as the similarity in lead article content. Many of the interviews with international celebrity figures appearing in the U.S. edition, including musicians and actors, are reproduced in the Australian version without change (Evans, 1998:38).

17 for record companies to find an audience and create public interest. In fact positive critical publicity is:

...useful in establishing an artist's credibility amongst other journalists and personnel in radio and television who monitor and take note of what is being reported in the music press. It is often a favourable critical review which persuades a radio programmer to begin broadcasting a recording (Negus, 1992:122).

The examination of the music press in this thesis includes the 'classic' titles such as Rolling Stone, New Musical Express, , and Billboard, as well as the newer glossy magazine titles including Q Magazine, Vox, Mojo, Spin. All of these, and most of the other titles drawn upon, can be described as generally representing a '' music press; as opposed to other magazines with an

adolescent or teen market (e.g. Smash Hits), or magazines which include

musical stars and music reviews but which are more generally known as women's magazines. However, the 'quality' music press does not just reside in specific magazine and newspaper titles devoted to popular music, it is also

formed in more general popular publications which might be called high brow or avant garde in status (e.g. Village Voice, The Face, Paper, Interview) as well as

general news and entertainment titles (e.g. Vanity Fair, GQ, Time, Times, Morning Hearld etc). Through these titles this research

accumulated broad media coverage of the selected female performers.

The various magazine, newspaper and online music press material was

gathered over several year, from about 1992 to 2001. However the publication

dates of the material ranged from the late 1970s to the present. This was

because some of the performers had careers which began before I took on the

research project. For example, Kate Bush and Annie Lennox have had reviewed

recordings as far back as the late 1970s. Thus archives of various music press

titles were researched to add to the data gathered from the 1990s. Instances of

18 media representations were collected not through a sampling frame but through the accumulation of material selected purely on the basis that the performer was the main feature of an article or review.

A second source of texts in my analysis is the internet posting of fan groups6 by looking at mailing lists, Usenet groups, and web bulletin boards devoted to the performers, or the genre of music associated with them (see Appendix B). Many fan groups have developed online communities through chat sites and web pages which have provided the researcher with some ready made audiences to observe in relation to popular cultural phenomenon (see Pullen, 2000; Jones, 2000). Here fans interact with each other around topics and events. In these forums complaints, requests, replies, greetings, apologies are posted as well as fan reviews, and interpretations, of media events, articles, and opinions.

Although these fan groups do not provide a representative sample of all fans they do provide us with an insight into particular fan cultures. These texts articulate how fans use language to talk about certain successful women performers and consequently articulate the discourses which are circulated to make performers meaningful to these particular audiences. On a broader level, these fan texts also help to explore the questions of identity and popular culture. "Through fan activity - which clearly involves the deployment of imagination fuelled by the media in an imagined community - people are helped to construct particular identities" (Abercrombie and Longhurst,

1998:121). An examination of the kinds of subject positions formed by fans, both for themselves and for their favourite celebrity, sheds light on the differences and similarities between 'official' media representations and the kinds of

6 Fans and the cultural/social issues surrounding their study will be examined in more depth in the following chapters, however, fans and fandom can be defined as a specific kind of popular audience. Fiske makes the point that "...fandom is a heightened form of popular culture in industrial societies and that the fan is an 'excessive reader' who differs from the 'ordinary' one in degree rather than kind" (Fiske, 1992:46).

19 meanings negotiated by audiences in regards to knowledge constructed about femininity, feminism and musicality.

Lastly, the music texts themselves (that is, the available commercial recordings of a performer) are considered in this thesis because of the lack of analysis in the sociology, communications and cultural studies literature which has dealt with the importance of sound as a representational language. However, my intention is not to construct readings from the music texts alone, but to examine the relationship between the sound text, the language of the music press in representing musical elements, and the unofficial fan talk exploring personal musical experiences (see Tagg, 1982). By studying the music in relation to other related texts, such as the music press, the importance and power of popular music in society can be more fully appreciated and understood. In particular looking at the music texts of these female performers allows this research to pinpoint some of the sound /sonic elements which relate to the gendered identities positioned through media and fan representations of femininity, feminism and creative musicality

In approaching the music as a textual source I have drawn on concepts within the emerging literature concerned with the problems and techniques of studying popular music. In particular the importance of a newly developed semiotics of sound has been central in analysing the social significance of sound in terms of texture, range, volume, melody and rhythm (to name a few), van

Leeuwen describes six general domains from which sound resources can be drawn including time and rhythm, perspective, melody, interaction of sound, voice quality and timbre, and modality (van Leeuwen, 1999:9). A textual analysis which follows these domains of sound, and the kinds of meanings which have become attached to sound elements, is used to make sense of the popular representation of women's musical voices and performances.

20 As van Leeuwen explains, the resource choices made to construct a musical/sound/noise event are both constrained and made possible by the context of the situation and the social value which sound events or elements contain:

...the 'choices' offered by semiotic resources have semiotic value. They carry with them a potential for semiosis, for meaning-making. This is why certain 'choices' may become mandatory, conventional or traditional in certain contexts...In this case there is no real choice...Other contexts, on the other hand, do not, or not yet, operate on the basis of strict rules, conventions, traditions, and in such contexts there is choice. It is then again the semiotic value of a given choice which makes people recognize it as an apt choice for expressing want they want to say (van Leeuwen, 1999:8).

This specific point, expressing the social values attached to sounds, relates to the larger concern in this thesis with the issues of power, subjectivity and agency. Both the written media reports of musical identities and performances and the musical elements used to construct a performance make possible social ideas, circulated through discourse, about gender. The artistic value of musical performance is negotiated through these sites of representation, but as van

Leuween points out, there are structures of meaning which limit what sounds can be made meaningful and/or valuable. The power to reproduce dominant discourses as well as to resist and negotiate between them, is a process which involves identifying new subject positions as well as shifting the ground of other well-worn positions. By comparing popular texts and the discourses which construct them, this thesis hopes to articulate these struggles for both new and existing meanings of femininity, feminism, and creative musicality.

21 Thesis Organisation

Chapter One gives an overview of the literature and debates which have given this thesis direction and focus. Three aspects are covered in the literature review: women as musicians in popular music, the issue of representation, and of musical audiences. The weaknesses of some of the approaches to these topics are explained as well as the insights that certain research and literature have

raised regarding gender construction in popular music culture in the last

twenty years.

Chapter Two entitled 'Feminist Poststructuralism, Popular Music Culture and Consumption - Theoretical Debates' deals with the general arguments and concepts pertaining to my feminist position. The main concepts of subjectivity,

agency and power are developed from a poststructuralist feminist point-of- view. Furthermore, the theoretical debates and my own approach to the musical text and to the audience are outlined.

Having set out the background and theoretical concepts for my analysis the rest

of this thesis from Chapters Three to Seven explores various facets of the three

subjectivities in relation to their representation in the music media and by

internet fan talk. These chapters take up the issues of femininity, feminism and musical status by articulating patriarchal discourses and those discourses which challenge the assumptions of patriarchy.

Chapter Three focuses on the representation of femininity through the media in

relation to several distinct but complicated stereotypes /subject positions

including: the mother, the child, the femme fatale, and the androgyne. From my theoretical position my understanding of femininity is that it is not one position

22 but a set of contradictory values, beliefs and discourses. Yet, often femininity is understood through stereotyped feminine roles which are constructed by patriarchal dichotomies and negotiated through other competing discourses.

These stereotypes are analysed in Chapter Three to show the tensions between patriarchal discourses of the feminine, perpetuated by certain representations, and interpretations and re-appropriations of the signs and codes by readers, the music press and the performers themselves. These feminine stereotypes are used to structure the chapter as well as to examine the possible strategies for negotiated .

Flowing on from this focus on femininity, Chapter Four narrows the analysis of femininity to examine the representation by the media and fans concerning the musical sounds/elements of various female musical performers, concentrating on the written profiles and official reviews of recordings and live performance.

Throughout this chapter, links are made between the feminine stereotypes of the previous chapter (mother, child, femme fatale, androgyne) and the representational metaphors of femininity as a set of musical sounds and practices. In addition the position of the popular music diva is examined as a contradictory representational image of the popular female singer. Fan talk on the internet is analysed to understand the reproduction of patriarchy and the strategies of negotiation around these representations of femininity.

The analysis of the way feminism as an identity is understood by female musicians, their fans and its representation in the music press is explored in

Chapter Five. Analysis is given over to the specific problems of representing feminism as a recognisable and positive subject in popular music media and fan texts. The labels used by the media to evoke possible feminist identities are discussed including: postfeminism, women in rock, girl-power, and angry young women. The notion of feminism as a popularly recognisable position is

23 analysed through these labels to try to understand the meanings made by fans, critics and performers around the feminist political subject. Possible feminist strategies are also discussed in relation to the specific feminist positions already outlined, and a brief discussion considers the possible fan identification of certain female performers with feminism.

From the preceding chapter the meanings made concerning feminism, in the form of the labels , women in rock, postfeminist etc, are narrowed down, in Chapter Six, to the interpretation of sonic elements within the music press and fan talk. Specific musical sounds and practices attached to popularly recognisable feminist stereotypes are analysed with the intention of drawing out the discourses for representing feminism in musical elements. The issue of genre and broader musical categorisation is examined, with a specific focus on the ideological division made between pop and rock music as considered in relation to feminism. The electric guitar as a visual and symbolic symbol of feminist musical practice is discussed and the singer's role is again examined, this time through the feminist meanings made around vocal performances.

Chapter Seven focuses on musical subjectivity, which is defined through notions of creativity, in terms of authorship, originality, truth/honesty, individuality and non-commercialism. Although there still remains a dominant set of values that circulates concerning the artist as original and creative subject there are differences in the way these values are understood and measured.

This chapter not only explores the discourses that tend to uphold patriarchal musical values but also the negotiations and resistances to them.

In exploring the representations of successful women performers in the global music press and internet fan discussions, it can be said that authentic female musical subjectivity is still defined and understood in terms of a male canon

24 and masculine attributes. Yet, from my feminist reading of many of the performers, it can also be said that there are many challenges and re­ negotiations of these criteria and values, some more successful than others. The construction of a female musical subject position is a complex process and the feminine and feminist subject, and the various ways in which they are represented through voices and musical genre of each performers, must also be taken into account if we are to understand the valuing of female musical performance at the beginning of the twenty first century. Feminism, understood both as a historical social movement and as an individual political identity, has had an impact on the meaning-making process in the media and in the consumption of musical texts. Ideological, economic and social changes of the last 50 years, including the rise of feminist action and thought, have also changed the private and public face of femininity. These changes can be seen in the representations discussed in this thesis.

25 CHAPTER ONE LITERATURE REVIEW: WOMEN AND POPULAR MUSIC

Introduction

The literature reviewed in this chapter gives background to the substantive theme of women and popular music and covers both academic and popular material. More specifically this chapter deals with three areas: women as musical performers and issues of participation, the representations of women as musical performers, and audience studies. The academic literature is drawn from various disciplines including sociological, communications, cultural studies, history and musicological and covers a range of insights and problems in the study of popular music and the roles and representations of women within it. Whatever the approach, the literature is significant to the issues underlying this thesis, including patriarchal power, subjectivity and agency.

Identity is of central importance in reviewing the place of women as musicians in Western history and in the more recent past of modern popular musics.

Furthermore, labelling oneself an artist or musician is related to the power relations and structures which construct women's access to the claim of creative identity. Identity, power and agency are also central to reviewing feminist (both academic and popular) analysis of the representation of women as musical subjects. Feminists are concerned with patriarchal institutions (e.g. heterosexuality, capitalism) and the power of these institutions to represent female subjectivity as lacking and marginal and have pursued ways and

26 strategies of challenging these representations. As this thesis seeks to understand and address the possibility of feminist intervention in patriarchal power relations, such a review of feminist analysis is essential. The relationship between identity, power and agency is also significant in the survey of the cultural studies and sociological literature pertaining to music audiences. For example, specific fan audiences are constructed on the identification of the reader with the text (be it a song, a performer, or a video). The discourses which help construct this relationship relate significantly to the question of how far feminist re-negotiations of patriarchal representations can go, and subsequently to the issue of agency and the forces of power which play both a productive and negative part in such interventions.

Women as Popular Musical Performers

Feminists and popular commentators have explored individual female performers, genres, historical moments, and contexts in an attempt to more fully understand the music, biographies, and historical impact of women in music.

However, much of this material has been concerned with the creation of the celebrity persona, and its cultural meanings beyond the musical context. Too often, especially in popular accounts, the musical role of the performers becomes a mere footnote to her personal or controversies. In reviewing the explanations of the position of female musical performers in the music industry arguments have been included which exemplify both the gaps, or weaknesses, as well as approaches that add weight to the arguments and conclusions which follow in the preceding chapters.

There is a large amount of feminist and sociological scholarship that has centred around the historical position of women in terms of what can be called Western

27 'art' musics (see McClary, 1991, 1994; Bowers and Tick, 1986; Solie, 1993;

Leppert, 1988). An example of the kind of historical feminist work on women's musical position can be found in Women Making Music: The Western Art Tradition

1150-1950, by Bowers and Tick, which looks at the place of women in music making from the early middle ages till the middle of the last century. The issues covered here are vast, encompassing large historical landscapes including the changes and constraints of the Christian church, issues of education, class, the professionalisation of musical roles and changes in the economy from feudal to market structures (1986:4-7). Yet like many feminist re-evaluations of musical history, their overall aim is to document the "...achievement of outstanding individual artists and also explores the history of women as a distinct sociological group within the musical professions and musical life as a whole" (Bowers and Tick, 1986:4).

The importance of examining the marginal history of women as musical subjects has been one of the major tasks of feminist research in this area. Susan McClary has noted how female musicians have been excluded from the official academic musicological canon and she claims it is mainly been due to feminism that the importance of female and musicians such as Clara Wiek Schumann, Fanny Mendelesohn Hensel and (McClary, 1994:365) have been recovered. Such scholarship has helped feminists to resist the common-sense histories of the patriarchal musical academy.

Feminists have not only been concerned with discovering female musicians of the past, but also with feminist criticism of the way the musician has been categorised through perceived male skills and paradigms (see Citron, 1993,1994; Detels, 1994). For example, McClary (1994:367) and Reich (1993:133) both acknowledge the effect of in understanding the composer/musician as an exclusively male role. Reich notes how the male

28 genius/creator was paradoxically seen as different to ordinary men because he could appropriate feminine characteristics to express his artistic sensibilities stating that "...the romantic ethos idolized the male artistic-creator who

incorporated in his art such typically 'feminine' traits as deep feelings,

tenderness, and sensitivity which were regarded by the romantics as a sign of

genius in males" (Reich, 1993:133). Similarly Christine Battersby charts the

aesthetic discourses of the West and meticulously shows the way artistic

subjectivity in the form of 'The Genius' was gendered and often continues to be

so (Battersby, 1989).

Yet, while feminists have emphasised that the role of the musical creator has

been denied to women, others have shown how 'amateur' musical practices iri

the private sphere were very much a part of an upper class woman's identity. In

the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, certain musical skills and

accomplishments were considered essential to the development of a respectable

feminine status. It was "...an appropriate mark both of femininity itself and

female class status. As such music was routinely viewed by parents as an asset

to their daughters' matrimonial stock" (Leppert, 1988:29). Musical

endeavours were seen as a way for a woman to safely occupy her mind and

time. In fact it was often seen as a preferred pastime to the reading of novels. A

certain 'gentile' musicality was acknowledged as part of a well rounded

feminine education (Leppert, 1988:29).

However, there were many restrictions on the actual level of musical

development women could achieve in this context. Performances were kept to

the domestic sphere and even then a woman should not show too much interest

in attaining a serious playing style as it was seen as a threat to the patriarchal

incitation of marriage. A public display of female musicality could signal a

woman who was "...out of control, leading a life of her own not defined to the

29 domestic regulations and responsibilities" (Leppert, 1988:40). It also illustrates the private/public divide, overlaid with class and gender distinctions, where women outside the privileged world of the aristocracy and upper middle class worked as professional musicians despite the general low status such work represented.7

This literature, which deals with the Western artistic musical traditions of

Europe, gives a broad background to the social, cultural and political issues that flowed through the musical institutions and practices of the time. There are, of course, many more writers who could be surveyed here to examine these issues yet the main point in acknowledging this work is to provide a historically grounded starting point in the examination of aesthetic discourses which continue to be relevant in a contemporary analysis of the musician as artistic subject. This material also foreshadows many of the issues which are taken up in this thesis, including the categorisation of the artist through a gender dichotomy of skill and authenticity. It also provides a historical background to the development of Western musical which still has significance for an analysis of popular musical styles and gender power relations (see Citron, 1993;

Battersby, 1989).

The literature more specifically pertaining to women as popular musicians covers a diverse range of approaches including popular biographies, histories, ethnographic research and textual analysis. The history of popular forms of entertainment has been researched, which has provided insight into the female performers of the vaudeville, (e.g. Bratton, 1986), country (e.g.

Mockus, 1994), and blues and (e.g. Davies, 1998) traditions. Although there

' Nancy Reich (1993) gives an account of those professional women who maintained a public musical career whilst also attending to family life. These women came from an "...artistic- musician class, a category which included actors, artists, artisans, dancers, writers, and practitioners of allied professions. They had in common an artistic output and a low economic level" (1993:125).

30 are various different sites and methods of analysis and description, much of this literature takes as its starting point the re-evaluation and recognition of female involvement in music-making.

In the context of current popular, performers, recent compendiums of interviews with contemporary female musical performers have started to fill the gap in presenting female experiences and attitudes to contemporary popular music making. Female journalists and non-fiction writers have written many of these more recent books, which have been produced for a mainstream audience, and help to make feminist approaches to female artists more accessible. For example, a historical overview of female artists from the blues to 1990s rap, by Lucy

O'Brien, seeks to provide a history of women in music that was well over due

(O'Brien, 1995:1). Other popular feminist popular accounts of the history of women in popular music include Garr's She's A Rebel (1992), Barbara O'Dair's edited collection Trouble Girls (1997), Garratt and Steward's Signed, Sealed and

Delivered (1984) and Reynolds and Press' The Sex Revolts: Gender, Rebellion and

Rock 'n Roll (1995) which all sympathetically covers the contradictory issues of women's experiences and representations in various different popular musical contexts and times. Garratt and Stewart see their history as an antidote to the more clumsy commercial attempts to represent women as rock musicians:

Most books about 'women in rock' tell selective stories; most are glossy fanzines, papier mache remakes of press-cuttings, press releases, and record company and magazine photographs. Few delve deeper than the conventional questions of the music press to discover how women feel about the way their music is produced, how it feels to be a performer, and their attitudes to their looks, their music, and their fame. Several of the women interviewed said they'd never been asked about being instrumentalists before (Garratt and Steward, 1984:10).9

O'Brien drew on over 200 interviews she conducted as a journalist with popular female artists to write the book. Her work is an example of the overlap between popular and polemic writing which has been a large feature of feminism in the late twentieth century. More recently, as will be shown later, a handful of popular feminist histories have emerged, as well as popular female centred , which have changed for the better the limited representational landscape described by Garratt and Steward.

31 Beyond these popular accounts of female musicians is the social research carried out by feminist academics in disciplines such as sociology, , cultural studies and history. This social research is still small in quantity yet it is very important for understanding the gender issues involved in the study of women in popular music.

For instance Mavis Bayton (1990, 1997, 1998) has conducted interviews with amateur and semi-professional female performers and found that the creative and technological process involved in producing rock and is an experience that is different for men and women. Her study, of the experiences of women becoming musicians, reflects the differences that women have to negotiate in the dominant male world of the struggling rock band. Access to the skills necessary to play the instruments, like the electric guitar, drums and bass guitar, has been a stumbling block for female involvement in the industry

(Bayton, 1990:238-239). The knowledge of electrified equipment and sound gear is something that has to be learned by women and girls without any prior idea of the technical language that both boys and men are more likely to be exposed to in their socialisation. Also, Bayton argues elsewhere that the gendered division of labour, through the exclusion of women as guitarists in the rock band, is part of a larger process of attaining separate male and female identities:

The vast majority of bands are male and many actively exclude women. A major preoccupation of young men is establishing 'masculinity'. Thus, so- called masculine traits are exaggerated. It is in their younger teens that most male rock guitarists start playing in bands. To have, say, a girl on lead guitar would undermine rock's latent function of conferring 'masculine' identity on its male participants. Its 'masculinity' is only preserved by the exclusion of girls (Bayton, 1997:40-41).

Mary Anne Clawson has focused on the experiences of female singers in all male bands, emphasising the masculine cultural environment. She finds that the role

32 of singer is often devalued, within the rock band setting, in relation to notions of skill because the voice is often naturalised. She argues that the women themselves resist this positioning through various discourses that situate the use of the voice as highly artistic and interpretive (Clawson, 1993:244-245).

However, in other research she notes the unequal valuing of women and men as rock musicians. Interviewing female band members competing in an annual band competition in she found that most "...reported encountering a lack of respect for their musical abilities, a sense that as women musicians, they must demonstrate their competence in way not required of men" (Clawson, 1999:112).

Sara Cohen has traced the masculinised culture of a local band scene in

Liverpool suggesting that at this local level rock is produced as a masculine activity and identity (Cohen, 1997:31). Cohen argues that the ideological aspects of the music scene, creates an idealised male space, which is the antithesis of the private space of the home, family, as well as the formal public space of paid- work (Cohen, 1997:30-31). These spaces of public leisure are re-evaluated by feminists such as Cohen (1997) and McRobbie (1991) as gendered, mapping the public /private and male/female differences in the use of space and cultural practices. The attached to musical practices and styles defined as male have also been a source of interest for feminists in examining the resistance of girls and young women within the cultures themselves. Leblanc's study into female punks in Canada maps the complexities for these girls in locating an identity which is both 'punk' and 'feminine' (1999) because as Cohen suggests, localised music scenes often represent places for the playing out of male sexuality and power (1997:31).

Ruth Finnegan's study of various kinds of local music making, from traditional band music to rock groups, has been a major influence on the handful of studies already mentioned. Finnegan looks at a whole range of amateur musicians in the

33 English town Milton Keynes. Her focus is not gender per se, but aims to fill a gap in the rock and pop literature concerning the neglect of local amateur musical activity (Finnegan, 1989:103). Since this work was published other researchers, as have been already reviewed above, have been inspired by Finnegan's work on local music scenes and have replicated this focus on the musician. However, the quantity of published literature concerned with the construction and practices of both amateur and professional musicians remains limited specifically in relation to women as musicians (Groce and Copper, 1990).

Much of the literature concerning women as popular musicians/performers takes the form of very focused analysis. In the academic literature, particular genres, social movements and performers have been highlighted as a way to exemplify certain issues. Studies which have concentrated on certain musical genres and movements, in trying to understand women as musicians, have helped in my own research relating to the eleven female performers. One particular area that has come under recent investigation has been the riot grrrl movement (see Wald, 1998; Kearney, 1997; Leonard, 1997) which is explained as involving both a re-assertion of adolescents, in the form of rebellious girl cultures, as well as a separatist philosophy (Kearney, 1998). Through both these strategies riot girl culture raises issues of commercial compromise, gender identity, patriarchy and representation within the context of musical and extra- musical texts. The that describes and critiques the riot grrrl movement is important in my analysis of performers such as Hole, Courtney

Love, L7 and P.J. Harvey. Although many of these performers have no direct links to the movement itself, the use of the label "riot grrrl", or simply "grrrl" in the mainstream media, in relation to these and other performers, meant that this issue needed to be contextualised.

For example, H.S. Bennett's (1980) research into rock musicians is detailed and tackles the sociological question of musician's aesthetics and culture but does not deal with the way gender relations construct these aesthetics or the gendered 'work' of becoming a musician.

34 Not all the literature concerning the musical roles of women in popular music has a feminist or an academic agenda. Much of the popular literature, which showcases women as performers, falls into a purely commercial sales style including short biographies and glossy promotional shots. This genre of literature is vast and mostly commercially driven, situated within the "rock star- machinery" (Frith, 1983). Major rock acts and genres in the last twenty years have generated a vast amount of popular books, discographies, pictorial compendiums, and transcribed interviews produced as a way of filling the

'needs' of the fan audience. However, the view that this literature is only a consumable product destined to satisfy the false needs of a duped mass is problematic. Rather we need to approach the mass media, in all its forms, as a site which creates knowledge around rock personalities, the rock industry, and the social practices around a musical life. It also guides the fans as to their position in the performer/audience relationship, and how they construct narratives about their favourite performer. This is certainly true in relation to the many discussions analysed in regard to my own research and many online fans post messages discussing and recommending reading. For example, in a reply to a question about whether to buy a particular biography on Alanis Morissette another fans responds with some informal advice:

Yes, I won a copy and I it is a good biography. I suppose I ought to elaborate on that but that would involve going back and reading the book, then writing a review. Suffice to say that I recall it being more of a biography of her than other material I have encountered, which are more akin to photo albums or publicity releases, or ill-conceived attempts at sociological analysis (Subject Re: Quick Question, [email protected], 15/8/99).

This response highlights many issues including the character of fan online communities, and the critical criteria of certain fan taste as well as illustrating the way fans negotiate and evaluate popular material in very specific and

35 complex ways. We can see also how popular literature such as biography can become important in a fan economy where cultural capital is the main form of currency. It is impossible, as an academic, not to engage with the popular as well as the 'serious', intellectually inclined literature. Because material is so limited on the subject, and because it is an area that quickly changes, popular music magazines/newspapers are an important source of music news for the researcher. Yet, one must always remain aware of how this news is constructed, both through discourses and the structures of a capitalist consumer market.

Quantifying 'Success'

Another specific approach to understanding women's position as musical subjects has been to try and quantify women's position through measurable variables such as record sales and single rankings. For example, Wells (1986) looks as the gender makeup of top albums in the years 1955 to 1984. He found that:

Both single and charts indicate women are greatly under- represented in popular music. Ironically, female performers appear to be more strongly represented among the top stars of the more traditional, sex- role stereotyped genre of . Quantitative equality still appears to be a long way off (Wells, 1986:77-83).

A more recent but similar study looks as the singles charts lists from 1970 to 1989 to "...compare and contrast female recordings artists of 1970s with their female counterparts of the 1980s..." (Schlattmann, 1991:3). This research tries to quantify the assumption that, by the early 1990s, women performers had become equal to men in their success and access to musical/performing roles.

They found that it was in fact a small number of successful women that had been successful "A handful of female performers have reaped the reward of

36 multiple hit singles and are, thus, commonly associated and credited with the emergence of the female artist during the last decade" (Schlattmann, 1991:6).

Research into the commercial success of female performers, using the sales indicators of charts, have shown that women as performers are less successful than their male counterparts. Hesbacher and Anderson (1980) analyse the chart success of female singer's from 1940 to 1980 and find that men have more chart success and longer careers than women solo performers. In addition, they conclude that women are confined to a smaller number of musical genres than men, in terms of those who are commercially successful (1980:137). Further,

Schlattmann has found that not only in the commercial charts but also in terms of aesthetic lists women fare badly in terms of representation (1991:7).

However, it has also been quantified that women as popular performers are attaining more commercial success. From 1985 to the present women as solo performers have had more number one singles than in the past, while male groups and solo artists have declined. Women's success in both the singles and album charts has been rising although male acts still dominant the number one album charts. In the period from 1956 to 1963 male performers made up a staggering 74.3 percent of number one singles as compared to only 12.3 percent by women. Yet from the mid 1980s female performers had boosted this to 32.3 percent (Katovich and Makowski, 1999:148-154)."

This kind of research is useful for quantifying common sense statements and ideas about the position of women in rock and the actual participation of women in successful musical acts. Nevertheless rates of chart success cannot tell

These statistics need to be tempered with the realisation that a small number of women performers have dominated the number one charts. However, the commercial success of performers like , Alanis Morissette, Madonna, Maria Carey and through the 1980s and 1990s have certainly helped to raise the overall success of women as compared to men (see Schlattmann, 1991).

37 us what people do with, or what meanings they make out of, the texts available.

Simon Frith argues that we need to be critical of understanding the popular as simply those commodities which are highly sellable in quantity. He is concerned with the qualitative investigation of the popular because, even if we know what sells well we cannot, from the figures alone, understand "...why such goods are chosen by their consumers nor whether they are actually enjoyed or valued by them" (Frith, 1996:15). My own analysis of fan cultures has been influenced by such arguments. Thus the proceeding chapters consider not the amount of quantifiable success of women performers but the subjective meanings made by fans in relation to those female musical success stories.

Representations of Women in Musical Texts

Although the research into women as musical practising subjects is important, for my thesis there is a larger interest in how the female musical subject is represented via the music media. The issue of representation is clearly intertwined with the study of women as musical performers and is defined by

Stuart Hall as the process of making meaning through various language systems:

...we give things meaning by how we represent them - the words we use about them, the stories we tell about them, the images of them we produce, we associate with them, the way we classify and conceptualise them, the values we place on them (Hall, 1997:3).

The literature which is relevant to this broad issue, and which is covered in the following discussion, includes research into the images of the , the music media and the musical text themselves.

38 The Visual Image and Gender Representation

One of the most popular approaches to studying the representational issues concerning music has been to concentrate on the visual images of music promotion. Throughout the 1980s, cultural and sociological approaches to music focused on the new visual packaging of the music single into the video format.

This interest was also accompanied by a focus on music television as a genre of popular culture and as an aesthetic style (see Frith, Goodwin and Grossberg, 1993).

Feminists also became focused on the images of music video seeing both and feminist within them (e.g. see Roberts 1990,1996). The most highly influential and cited feminist study of this type is A.E. Kaplan's Rocking

Around the Clock (1987). In this book Kaplan analyses the videos of Madonna,

Tina Turner, and others, in detail, to show how the narratives and images working within them which both challenge and reproduce patriarchal discourses. For example, she describes how the camera's does not dominate in the and Annie Lennox's video 'Sisters Are Doing It

For Themselves', "...for much of the time the camera catches them at oblique angles, so that their do not directly meet the camera's" (Kaplan, 1987:139).

Although Kaplan's approach reflects a textual analysis similar to the deconstruction which follows, she does not extend it to the musical elements which are highly important, especially in regards to the representation of feminism as a subjectivity. Aretha Franklin's position as "...'strong' black female blues singer..." (1987:138) is noted by Kaplan, but because of her film studies approach the visual signs are of dominant concern for her in the video analysis.] 2 This is not just a weakness for Kaplan, but for many feminist and cultural approaches to music culture.

12 In a similar vein Sally Stockbridge ignores the listener preferring to focus on the viewer of rock videos (Stockbridge, 1990:105). Also, Ronald Scott's (1993) analysis of Madonna's video

39 Another approach to the visual aspects of musical performance has been the more quantitative methods of content analysis and audience surveys. For example, Steven Seidman uses content analysis to code behaviours and occupational roles in music videos. In his research on the stereotypes in music videos he found that two thirds of characters in the videos were male. Those characters that could be characterised in occupational roles were fairly traditional in regard to gender portrayal (1992:211). His findings match those of other researchers doing analysis in music video and other television texts such as drama and commercials (1992:214). The conclusion reached by Seidman is that mainstream television images including music videos portrayed traditional stereotypical behaviours and roles for women and men (1992:215).

Other studies focused on the way audience read these visual images problematise such research, even when the reading is based on more 'objective' measures easily quantified (for example the sex of individuals appearing in video narratives). A study by Thaxton and Jaret (1985), based on measuring male and female viewers' meanings, found that women recording artists have been able to circumvent some of the negative traits associated with the attractiveness of women as sex objects. That is, their sexual attractiveness may not undermine their association with more positive 'feminist' traits by both female and male audiences. They conclude that:

By analyzing the images projected and impressions made by photographs of contemporary women singers it was found that female singers were evaluated highest on qualities of independence, confidence, strong will, control, competence, and daring. These are traits that feminists

'Like a Prayer' is a classic example of the kind of visual textual analysis Kaplan and others have followed. Scott argues for a reading of this video that offers positive images of black Afro- American culture. However, the issues of race, gender and religion are mainly understood through particular images and narrative sequences in the video and little attention is paid to the musical elements accompanying the visual action. Similarly, Robin Robert's (1996) analysis of videos by , Pat Benetar and notes the subversive potential of music video but totally ignores the musical signs that parallel the visuals.

40 have been trying to have incorporated into female characters in mass media forms...to counterbalance existing sex role attitudes. To be sure, women singers were also viewed as quite attractive physically and sexually, but what is most significant is (a) they were seen as higher on those qualities of assertiveness and self-direction than they were on either the attractiveness or traditionally feminine qualities, and (b) the assertiveness and attractiveness dimensions were positively correlated (Thaxton and Jaret, 1985:259).

This kind of research gives a more complex picture to the meanings made by audiences in regard to images of females and suggests that it is not enough to rely solely on the researchers' own interpretations of media content. It also puts into question the research based on simple content analysis, which ignores the reader as differentially positioned. It draws attention to a more sophisticated theory of the reader which considers the diversity and agency of the reader rather than the homogeneity of media content.

The Sonic Text and Female Representation

In consideration of the huge amount of material devoted to the analysis of music videos and music television, much of the more recent research into popular music has had to deal with the issue of visual hegemony in popular music studies. The emphasis on the visual as the main site of representational analysis can be seen in Ann E. Kaplan's (1989) study of MTV videos and also in Fiske's cultural analysis of Madonna as semiotic text (1989a). They each look at the visual images of Madonna without any real reference or inclusion of her music as part of the meaning making process. Andrew Blake takes up this criticism when he states:

In their attempts to appropriate, deconstruct and reconstruct the Madonna Phenomenon, feminists and postmodernists have, in the main, concerned themselves with the spectacular rather than the sonic (Blake, 1993:17).

41 Blake analyses Madonna's musical recordings and argues that much of her impact has come from her music, rather than in her fashion styles and/or her video images. This article is one in growing number of attempts to focus attention on the sonic texts rather than the more obvious visual artefacts. He shows how Madonna has used different styles /genres in her various albums, building on musical influences and intertextual references including: 1960s girl groups, rap, soul, country, and Latin music (Blake, 1993:26). Such acknowledgements of the visual hegemony of analysis has influenced this thesis aim to consider the written, representations of musical elements and performances.

Also the feminist musicologists who have provided some musical analysis of performers from pop and rock genres, provide a significant inspiration in the attempt to fill the gap. For example, both Sheila Whiteley (1997b, 2000) and

Susan McClary (1991) tackle the textual relationships between the visual and sonic codes. Whiteley does this through a parallel analysis of the visual images of Madonna's video 'Justify My Love' with the musical/vocal elements. She stresses the interplay between the vocal qualities of Madonna's voice in this song, that is breathy and by connotation sexy, with the , images and intertextual persona of Madonna as sexy and sexually aggressive (Whiteley, 1997b:265, 270-271).

Susan McClary, one of the first feminist musicologist to take Madonna's music seriously as a site of meaning-making, analyses the significance of the Madonna song 'Like a Prayer' and notes that both the gospel musical elements and the visual signs suggest sexual/religious . This overall feeling in the song/video rejects a white Christian view of religious practice, that oppresses sexuality through religious observance. McClary gives a complex reading of this song, which suggests a possible resistance to dominant patriarchal relations

42 through both musical textures and visual iconography (McClary, 1991:164). In terms of musical analysis she uses semiotic and literary tools, combined with a musicological understanding, in an attempt to understand the significance of gender in these musical texts.

Even though such socially and musically sensitive approaches are increasing, the most accessible way of making meaning/readings about musical texts has been through analysis of lyrics. This approach makes up a large proportion of research into the music text including Cooper (1992), Hyden and McCandless

(1983), Becker (1990) and Endres (1984). For example, Endres found that "In the majority of the studied, women seldom initiated the action. They were normally characterized as passive figures-important to the plot of the song but seldom active" (1984:10). Yet this concentration on the linguistic meaning of the lyrics ignores the non-linguistic use of the voice. For example, Horrocks sees

Little Richard's use of meaningless words as an important element in understanding the sensuality of some of his songs such as 'Tutti Frutti'

(1995:132). Gary Burns also notes that nonsense lyrics have had a long and successful history in rock providing hooks for songs. They have also been used in conjunction with rhyme, onomatopoeia, and alliteration to engage the listener and make a mark on our memory (Burns, 1987:12). Further, a wide set of vocal characteristics which need to be considered, and which cannot be understood through lyrical analysis alone, include melody, timbre, rhythm, accent, volume and range (see Moore, 1993). This is not to say that lyrical analysis should be abandoned, rather it needs to be supplemented by other sources of signification.

Other sociological, feminist and cultural studies writers have also attempted a more holistic analysis of the social aspects of the musical text, without abandoning musical elements. For example, in an early article by Frith and

McRobbie entitled 'Rock and Sexuality' they attempt to present two different

43 generic musical styles and relate them to the representation of gender. This was a landmark article in that it quite boldly labelled white dominate rock "" and argued more generally that "Any analysis of the sexuality of rock must begin with the brute social fact that in terms of control and production, rock is a male form" (Frith and McRobbie, 1990:373). More importantly, for my own research, they also discuss the possible contradictions in the seemingly all- male affair of rock. For example, although they argue that rock is a male domain, both performance wise and in the values it represents, they also acknowledge that its message of "...freedom from domesticity..." can speak to girls/women as well as male audiences (1990:381-382). They note that the beat bands of the 1960s paralleled a breaking down of gendered popular musics:

The British sound in general, the Beatles in particular, fused a rough R&B beat with yearning vocal derived from black and white romantic pop; the resulting music articulated simultaneously the conventions of feminine and masculine sexuality, and the Beatles' own image was ambiguous, neither boys-together aggression not boys-next- door pathos (Frith and McRobbie, 1990:383).

Although this article has been critiqued for its lack of specific detail (see

Whiteley, 1997a:xxi; Bradby, 1990a:342) it provides us with one of the first feminist and social analysis of the gender divisions in rock and pop music. It also brings us to the more focused question of the audience and the possible meanings available within a musical performance. However, before reviewing audience research into popular music listeners we need to deal with popular and academic accounts concerning women's representation in the extra-musical texts of the music media.

44 The Music Media and Representation

Popular literature cannot be ignored as it is a source of popular knowledge on popular music. It communicates such things as chart positions and helps place music in a hierarchical formation. Most importantly popular literature is a site where the general population can make meaning out of their own consumption of music as well as engage in an identification process with the performer. Within the rock/pop printed literature there is a wide variety of individual publications ranging from glossy mainstream magazines to serious specialised news on technology, and publications focused on specific music genres.

There is a very limited amount of research that has been done on the music press (for example compared to the literature available on music television) and its role in representing musicians and other interconnected subjectivities.13

Many writers have noted their importance but few have taken up any significant analysis of them. was one of the first writers to consider the popular press as an important popular site for the construction of meaning around performers. Frith briefly reviews the music press in Britain and notes their importance as publicity vehicles for new and celebrity musicians and bands. He suggests that the readers of the music press "...act as opinion leaders, the rock interpreters, the ideological gate-keepers for everyone else" (1983:165).14

More recently Frith has considered the aesthetic judgments of the music critic and fans, suggesting that the concerns of early modernist critics in relation to art

For a general summary of research see Shuker (1994). 14 Paul Therberge has researched musician magazines in the 1980s (1991) and more recently has written on the construction of musical technologies in popular musician magazines. He notes that women in these magazines are often represented in very traditional stereotypical roles or are absent all-together (Therberge, 1997:122).

45 and popular music continue to be relevant in popular . He notes that the critics were not simply in a one way relationship with their readers:

...the themes that haunted modernist writers and critics at the beginning of the century (their "high" cultural concern to be true to their art, to disdain mere entertainment, to resist market forces; their longing for a "sensitive minority" readership...) still haunt popular music. What needs stressing, though, is that it is not just critics who hold these views, but also the readership for whom they write (and which they help define): music magazines like Melody Maker or Rolling Stone in the late '60s and early '70s, like New Musical Express in the mid to late '70s, like Spin in the '80s, were aimed at consumers who equally defined themselves against the "mainstream" of commercial taste, wherever that might lie (Frith, 1996:66).

Frith makes an important point here that the taste values expressed in mass marketed publications carry a dichotomy of commercialism/art that helps construct fan identity as much as a performers public artistic worth.

One newer area of literature, which sheds light on the representations of women in the music press, are the scattered critical writings of female journalists who have worked in the popular music field as reporters, reviewers and writers. Evelyn McDonnell, as editor of a selection of music press articles written by women, clearly articulates the issues of inequality and the problems for women in a male dominated area like rock writing:

...there are no women's names in the editorial masthead of Musician, only a handful out of the legions of daily music critics are women, and only 69 of the 1994 Pazz & Jop poll of 309 critics were females... (McDonnell, 1995:7).15

15 Some of the articles in McDonnell's book mark out a recent history of issues and themes that women rock writers have championed and critiqued through feminist imperatives, including the representations of the underground riot grrrl scene to both female and general media audiences. McDonnell notes in her introduction that many women writing about music took up genres that were being ignored by men, including genres/styles that were performed by racial, sexual or gender minorities (1995:15).

46 Liz Evans, another rock journalist, has also edited a book that features the writings of women rock writers. In her introduction she plainly states that male domination has been the order of the day at most rock magazines and newspapers in terms of staffing and control over content:

Effectively (in conjunction with the managing editors and publishers of the music press - most of whom are male) they control which topics are covered, which bands are featured and how a magazine's overall journalistic style is determined. Most editorial positions are taken up by men, as are most freelance positions, and despite half-hearted claims by certain editors about redressing the balance on their papers and magazines, women continue to find themselves marginalised (Evans, 1997:xv).

In -mother publication, Evans features thirteen female pop artists as a way of championing female expression which she felt was not being taken seriously or represented in an in depth way by the media. In allowing female performers to

write/speak about themselves, Evans indicates that the mainstream popular

music media is not an ideal forum for such voices (Evans, 1994:vii). Similarly,

Amy Raphael has also edited a book highlighting the views and histories of prominent musical female performers. With a parallel goal to Evans she sees it as important to give an alternate public space for these successful women to tell their own story. She clearly indicates her own roles as interviewer and editor of

this collection as changing the power relations between interviewer and

journalist:

What links the women in Never Mind the Bollocks is their comparative success in dealing with the male-dominated infrastructure. This book is about women rising to the challenge, getting a record deal, filling gigs and selling records without selling out. It is about her-story rather than just his. It is about letting female musicians speak for themselves, in a monologue which they were able to see and discuss at every stage - because usually an interview is always conducted on the journalist/writer terms (Raphael, 1995:xxix).

47 These works represent not only a source of information in terms of individual performers, including biographical details, but more interestingly show a rejection or at least a negotiation by some female popular writers in working within the male defined structures of the music press, and the associated genres of adult music magazines and papers.16 This literature also points to a feminist consciousness, with the intention of giving women an unmediated and 'truthful' voice of self-representation. Although this is certainly a strategy for valuing women's musical subjectivity, the approach of this research is to consider media representations, not with the intentions of exposing them as distorting a 'real' fixed subject behind these representations, but rather to consider which narratives and sound images circulate more easily than others in popular music cultures and contexts and relate them to the issue of the gender power relations of contemporary culture.

Popular Music Audiences

The last issue under review in this chapter is that of popular music audiences, and the cultural analysis and sociological research which has attempted to make sense of viewers and listeners as subjects. Feminist media research has re­ examined female audiences and challenged the 'common-sense' understandings of the feminine as a negative audience type, that is a group of readers unable to interpret texts critically. This feminist challenge to patriarchal discourses and cause and effect media models suggests that audience groups (whether male or female) have been undervalued by cultural and media researchers. Taking this feminist challenge as a starting point this section looks at feminist and cultural studies research into popular cultural audiences (especially where gender is a

This movement can be seen also in the emergence of fan based publications known as as well as online magazines, produced both commercially and by non-professionals, which focus on various aspects of women in popular music.

48 significant social grouping), examines the link between gendered audience and genre, reviews research into the fan/star relationship and finally focuses on the internet as a site where audiences for female performers are created and communicate.

Active Readers and Gendered Audiences

Much audience research undertaken has touched on the relationship between audiences and music. More specifically feminists have focused on the particularities of female audiences in relation to many different types of media texts including romantic fiction, television soap and women's magazines.

This is an important body of literature because it not only attempts to understand the way female individuals interact and make meaning out of

'feminine' popular culture but also how female audiences negotiate their position within patriarchal discourses and contexts, and even resist dominant meanings which devalue their readings and practices.

In relation to the specific texts produced in the popular music industry, feminist analysis has been concerned with the issue of female audience participation. For example, the activities of female audiences of the 1950's and 1960s have been re­ examined by feminists as an empowering and active experience for women rather than as an empty and passive one (Ehrenreich, Hess, and Jacobs, 1992;

Johnson, 1992). Many of these writers see women's resistance in those audience practices which have been traditionally seen, both on a theoretical and a common-sense level, as the actions of a manipulated mass. John Fiske sets out a "cultural economy of fandom" which emphasises various fan practices which are considered by him to be productive. He maps out several types of productivity from simply making meaning out of commercially produced texts,

49 to the making of new fan texts which can be circulated in a material form e.g. short stories, fanzines, and websites (1992: 37-39).

John Tullock and Henry Jenkins similarly acknowledge fans as active readers in their detailed research on science fiction fans. They also consider the boundaries of fan agency in relation to the production contexts of popular cultural commodities:

Our view is that fans are not 'fan-atics'...Still less are they the psychologically 'deviant' personalities that the media like to construct. Indeed 'fans' are best understood not as unified individuals at all...but rather as a with sets of discourses appropriate to a 'powerless elite', positioned in relations of expertise and intimacy with 'their ' show. They are necessarily positioned, structurally positioned, in an immediate context of industry ('producers') and audience...(Tullock and Jenkins, 1995: 168-169).

This more recent understanding of audiences as diverse, active and discursively constructed has led to research which demonstrates the differences between the consumption practices of gendered social groups. For example, some interesting research has been done on the way men and women organise their musical knowledge, taste and practices. Christenson and Peterson conducted a study on male and female college students in regards to the way each group organised their labelling of musical styles. It was found that males and females each grouped or mapped music types differently to each other (1988:282) and showed different musical preferences:

Several gender differences emerged in the appeal of the music forms. The ones liked more by females than males included mainstream pop, contemporary , soul, Black gospel, and ...In contrast, the types liked more by males than females were "harder" forms, including 70s rock, , and blues (Christenson and Peterson, 1988:293).

50 More specifically they found that the greatest differences in orientation were in regard to where women tended to dislike both heavy metal and the category of music labelled as hard rock (Christenson and Peterson,

1988:298). Thus, "...males tended to prefer the more 'macho' hard rock forms whereas females preferred softer, more romantic and dance-orientated music types such as mainstream pop and contemporary rhythm and blues" (1988:298).

This division of labour in the consumption of musical texts is also explored in

Bechdolf's research of the difference between male and female audiences in video clip consumption. He shows those male audiences of female audience taste and choices in music is governed by a dichotomous understanding of gender and musical taste (1995:15-16). Male audiences in this research tried to distance themselves from music videos they saw as girl orientated "...they do not imagine the girls of their age group listening to something other than and pop" (Bechdolf, 1995:14).

Norma Coates is another researcher who has mapped the gendered musical relations which designates the fan role to women/girls and the performer to men/boys even though, as she herself admits, the 1990s has been the most

'enlightened' and successful age for women in rock (Coates, 1997:51-53). She makes the point that there is still a hegemonic hierarchical divide between rock and pop as two distinct genres which reflect gender difference. Christopher

Martin articulates a similar statement claiming that the female fans and performers have been de-valued and positioned within a hierarchical dichotomy of aesthetic value, "Since the late 1950s, women's experiences as fans (and later as performers) of have often been dismissed, limited, or marginalised. Music that has been popular with young women has been typically defined as not art but 'superficial sentiment,' not rock and roll, but

'mere entertainment' and 'tennybopper' fare" (Martin, 1995:69).

51 Both these, and other recent feminist re-evaluations of women as popular audience, highlight the connection between the construction of gender identities

(and fandom) and the musical texts themselves. P. David Marshall draws on

Susan McClary's work to explain that the pop form has been feminised, which carries over into the way the female fan interacts and makes meaning of the song. The ballad is a major signifying text referring to not only heterosexual gender relations but containing within it references to its idealised feminine audience. These references are made not only through lyrics, talking of love and romance between a girl and a boy, but also exist within the very sonic elements of the voice, instrumentation and :

The feminized popular musical text has been constructed as the love song, which, in its softened sounds, its entreating (male) voice, and its romantic construction of love, works to construct a female listener (Marshall, 1997:176).

Although it has been clearly acknowledged that genre or the categorisation of musical texts is made via gender discourses, others have shown how audience readings themselves, as opposed to the representation of audience, are made complicated with the inclusion of racial and other social subjectivities. For example, Brown and Shulze show how race and gender combine to create different reading positions and interpretations for African-American and white student audiences viewing Madonna's video/song 'Pappa Don't Preach' (Brown and Shulze, 1990). Such research reminds us that the category woman is not universal, fixed, or unified in terms of identifications, meanings and social inequalities. That is, the gendered power relations in one social context, may be very different in another, even when the media text remains the same in content.

52 Star/Fan Relations and The Internet

Another aspect to studying female audiences, and audiences in general, has been the analysis of star systems, or celebrity, created by media industries to enhance and promote sales. The study of stardom, in relation to popular music, has been less considered in the literature than other media forms. Richard Dyer has outlined some important points in his analysis of stardom in connection to the Hollywood film system, which can also be considered in relation to the popular music star. Most important is his acknowledgment that stars have ideological significance, helping to shape values, ideas, and attitudes (Dyer, 1979; 1987). Yet, he makes it clear that theorising the star through ideological structures does not mean that the audience is simply dictated by these. He says:

Just as star charisma needs to be situated in the specificities of the ideological configurations to which it belongs..., so also virtually all sociological theories of stars ignore the specificities of another aspect of the phenomenon - the audience (Dyer, 1979:36).

More recently Jackie Stacey has drawn on Dyer's work in her research on star- audience identification where she challenges what she sees as the feminist psychoanalytical view of the female audience by showing how female film audiences negotiate a relationship with the star. She criticises film studies in general for its textual focus and she cites Richard Dyer as one of the few researchers who looks outside the film text itself (Stacey, 1991:142-144).17 Stacey clearly positions the audience as more than merely mimicking star styles as she sets out the various reactions evinced by female individuals in response to a chosen film star. She finds several different identification fantasies articulated by audiences including identification as a process of escapism, a pleasure in

17 Paradoxically popular music studies have been criticised for the opposite sin, focusing on all the social activities around the music while leaving the musical texts themselves secondary, or even ignoring them altogether.

53 fantasies of resistance, as well as an identification with some particular aspect of the star, which is expressed in the desire to become more like them (1991:150-

152):

This research also challenges the assumption that identification is necessarily problematic because it offers the spectator the illusory pleasure of unified subjectivity. The identifications represented in these letters speak as much about partial recognitions and fragmented replications as they do about the misrecognition of a unified subjectivity in an ego ideal on the screen. Thus, cultural consumption does not necessarily fix identities, destroy differences and confirm sameness (Stacey, 1991:160).

Such research points to for a flexible and complex theory of the audience (this is outlined further in the next chapter), place where such research has emerged has been in the study into the internet and web interactive environments. As my substantive analysis deals with the internet as a site of developing fan culture, the literature pertaining to web culture and online discussion groups is clearly important to cover. The themes that have been most consistently addressed include those of community and identity (e.g. see

Wellman and Guila, 1999; Foster, 1997; Cutler, 1996). For example, there is much debate surrounding the issue of whether the internet is a new /alternate place for community action and relationships, or whether it offers up a rather inactive and 'imaginary' space which has quickly become simply another way of consuming rather than producing. Certainly there is a sense that there is a growth in virtual communities (Jordon, 1999:100), but whether these communities transform 'real' lives is another matter.

It has been noted by feminists that the internet can provide different groups of women with a sense of empowerment because it "...offer opportunities to

(re)construct and (re)conceptualize cultural texts and identities" (Gersch,

1998:313). Nancy K. Baym describes a community of women which has formed within a newsgroup devoted to T.V. soap opera. She notes that this group has a

54 specific set of rules and developed a community that is both unique and creative. Also she sets out a very through summary of the way discussion groups operate including the way community is established through textual performances. Baym discusses the way individual posters establish a public identity within the community through establishing links between themselves and the story lines of certain soaps:

Another route to establishing a public identity on the group is the use of self-disclosure. Because of the issues around which soap revolve, self-disclosures are often highly personal. African Americans, Asian Americans, and gays have described their own experiences as victims of racism and homophobia when similar events are depicted on the shows. Women have told of being raped or beaten when discussing story lines dealing with these traumas (Baym, 1997:116).

The literature also covers the conflicts and elitism of computer communications.

Gersch states that women are doubly marginalised from access to online communities and technologies because women are more likely to be in working or lower class positions than men. Although the computer can be seen as offering opportunities for alternative communication access and action, economic wealth is still a barrier to working class women and women from the developing world (Gersch, 1998:310). It seems that when class position is similar men and women have similar access to computer technology and networks, yet there are differences in where, and how, men and women use such technology.

For example, men more often go online at home while women do so more frequently at work (suggesting that men use more of their leisure time at home than women). It has also been found that boys use home computers far more frequently for non-educational activities while girls are more likely to use it to assist in their school work (Bikson and Panis, 1997:423-424).

One very particular look at an online music community is Norma Coates account of her own marginalisation on a mailing list called "Rocklist". This list

55 was set up for both academic and general discussion on rock music as a serious topic. She found both her comments and the comments of other women were

"...ignored, argued with, or trivialized" (1998:78). Through documenting her own experience she convincingly argues that rock as a discourse still represents a very narrow view of music-making and aesthetic values. So much so that these women formed an alternative discussion space within "Rocklist" which they called "Clitlist". Coates found that Clitlist discussion was different to Rocklist communications:

We avoided the "baseball card" mentality, the power/knowledge equation that characterized much of the discussion on Rocklist. We spoke of riot grrrl bands, for example, on affective rather than competitive or hierarchical levels, focusing on what bands meant to us and other people, and how their messages were deployed and mobilized, rather than which band was the "best one" or the most obscure one (a distinction frequently conflated in rock discourse and on Rocklist) (Coates, 1998:88).

Although my own research is not concerned specifically with the way different gendered audiences communicate, and the connection of gender with the content of discussion, Coates' experience relates to the issue of rock as a discourse which constructs gender identity and the representations of female musicians. Within the following substantive chapters the question of rock as a discursive formation, which in many contexts is constructed through patriarchy, yet remains open to challenges, will be central to my approach to fan's online discussions.

56 Conclusion

This chapter sets up a backdrop to my own research regarding female subjectivity in popular music. Feminist work has uncovered both under-valued and unknown female musicians in both the historical re-construction of musical practice and the re-writing of more recent popular music histories which highlight women as performers. They have also pointed to the patriarchal discourses and practices that have significantly marginalised the participation and representations of women as performers. This review of literature concerned with gender and popular music provides a background for understanding the current struggle and success of various female performers in attaining creative musical identity explored in this thesis. Research into audience cultures and readers has also highlighted the importance of understanding popular music as a relationship between readers, texts and producers. However, the literature also shows some weaknesses and gaps which this thesis seeks to partly fill. Certainly my interest in the connection between feminist identities and popular representation has not been clearly addressed nor the complex relationship between the feminine, the musical and the feminist subject. Also there has been a lack of qualitative research into the meanings made by music audiences in relation to the representations existing in the popular music media.

The next chapter looks at the theoretical issues, namely the concepts of subjectivity, agency and patriarchal power, which help to explore the substantive areas of women, popular music, and audiences.

57 CHAPTER TWO

FEMINIST POSTSTRUCTURALISM, THE POPULAR MUSICAL TEXT AND THE AUDIENCE - THEORETICAL DEBATES

Introduction

This chapter introduces the theoretical concepts which both inform the textual analysis which follows, and help to explore the major focus of this thesis concerning the representation of female musical performers within popular music culture. This chapter extends some of the ideas previously touched upon to illustrate the theoretical position of this research. This position is an eclectic mix of structuralist, poststructuralist and feminist thought which is concerned with mapping the power relations of the representation of 'female' subjectivity, as well as the contradictions and points of resistance which allow feminism(s) to re-construct existing patriarchal discourses.

General Concepts and Debates

Firstly, as the substantive discussion focuses on the construction of three female subjectivities it is obviously important to outline exactly how subjectivity is defined in this thesis and to explore the related issues which come out of this definition or approach. At a very general level subjectivity is a concept which is

"...used to refer to the conscious and unconscious thoughts and emotions of the individual, her sense of herself and her ways of understanding her relation to the world" (Weedon, 1987:32). However, this needs to be further explained in

58 terms of a poststructural position.18 This means that while subjectivity is used to indicate individual identity if also points to the social construction of that identity. Thus the concept of subject positions is also used to indicate the social factors and grouping which make identity meaningful both to the individual and to social processes and institutions.

Subjectivity is not conceived of as a central, unified position, experience, or representational category. While it is often associated in common-sense discourse with a unified and individual point-of-view, subjectivity a site of contradiction, conflict and tension. In using a poststructuralist perspective, subjectivity is interpreted as un-unified (or decentred) and multiple in character. This is because poststructuralism represents a break from rationalist humanist philosophy. Subjectivity is not a pre-given fixed human characteristic as it has been theorised in the past, but is continually in the process of formation, and is reconstituted every time we use language as individuals, within a social formation (Weedon, Tolson, Mort, 1980:205).

Drawing on Foucault and his interest in the subject, within modern institutional contexts and discourses, the historical and thus changeable character of subjectivity can be understood:

One has to dispense with the constituent subject, get rid of the subject itself, that's to say, to arrive at an analysis which can account for the constitution of the subject within a historical framework. And this is what I would call genealogy, that is, a form of history which can account for the constitution of knowledges, discourses, domains of objects etc., without having to make reference to a subject which is either transcendental in

18 Poststructuralism, drawing on previous structuralist theories of language (see Saussure, 1983), considers that our identities are formed through systems of cultural communication. Systems of representation, such as music, written and verbal language, and visual images, are organised and structured before the individual comes to interact with these systems. Meaning- making is not an individual act of will or individual creativity, but rather a social process which is structured by discourses, institutions and practice which maintain and reproduce the signification system.

59 relation to the field of events or runs in its empty sameness throughout the course of history (Foucault, 1980:117).

This contextual historical understanding of the subject is a starting point in the analysis of female subjectivity in this thesis, and leads to a decentring of the subject which considers that our sense of self, and the identification with other subjects, will be a fragmentary and contradictory process. This does not mean that as individuals we experience a complete confusion of identities. From a Foucauldian perspective, the subject is subjected to power regimes which enable the individual to act in accordance with particular discourses, which make their actions and identity meaningful. Thus the individual can be seen as both a site of conflicting forms of subjectivity and subject to institutions and ideologies which constrain as well as enable particular identities (Weedon, 1987:33-34).

In taking this position to the subject one has to also problematise and question the category of 'women'. That is, if the subject is multiple, changeable, and contradictory, then the claims of feminism to a female subject are not easily sustained. For some, the category of women as mobilised by liberal feminist thought, can be criticised for reaffirming patriarchal values and racial and class interests (see McLaughlin, 1999:9). Furthermore, the question of equality becomes destabilised in parallel to the decentring of female subjectivity. This destabilisation of a humanist feminist practice is exemplified in Luce Irigaray, who questions the concept of equality in terms of feminist goals:

Demanding equality, as women, seems to me to be an erroneous expression of a real issue. Demanding to be equal presupposes a term of comparison. Equal to what? What do women want to be equal to ? Men? A wage? A public position? Equal to what? Why not to themselves? (Irigaray, 1991:32).

60 However, for many feminists the conceptualisation of women as a unified and fixed category goes to the very heart of a workable feminist politics. One fear is that by challenging the category women as a stable indicator of experience and identity, one undermines any normative ground from which to launch a feminist politics. In fact, from many feminist quarters there has been an outright rejection of a feminism emphasising difference. Sheila Jeffrey's attacks feminists within 'queer theory' as an example of the ultimately pluralist position she calls postmodernism:

It is gender depoliticised, sanitised and something difficult to associate with sexual violence, economic inequality, women dying from backstreet abortions. It is gender reinvented as play for those who see themselves far removed from the nitty gritty of women's oppression. It goes down well in the world of lesbianandgay theory because it is feminism as instead of feminism as irritatingly challenging (Jeffreys, 1996:359).

The problem here seems to be between feminism(s) which embrace difference as a organising concept, as opposed to feminism which is concerned with equality. Jeffreys' assumes that all women as a group need to be mobilised in any argument for equality, ignoring difference. Yet, this oppositional understanding is quite unhelpful for extending and reconceptualising feminism in light of the decentred subject. Felski explains the way difference and equality have been placed into a conceptual false dichotomy, and argues that any feminism of difference, often labelling itself poststructuralist, is as much concerned with questions of equality as any other:

The opposite of equality is not difference but rather inequality, a principal to which presumably no feminist would subscribe. Similarly, the opposite of difference is not equality but identity. Thus a difference-based feminism refuses a logic of identity that would subsume women within male-defined norms. It does not, however, reject equality but argues for an expanded understanding of equality that can also respect difference (Felski, 2000:130).

61 In this sense, to abandon the category women altogether is not feasible or desirable in a feminist politics which may need to consider the differences of gender above others. Furthermore, not all differences are worthy of recognition and a poststructuralist feminist position needs to be aware that difference should not be made a value in and of itself (Felski, 2000:131). Rather we need to be sensitive to the contradictions and differences in the systems, practices and oppression women may live under. As Ramazanoglu states, "Male domination is contradictory for women, in that patriarchal societies allow some women power over others" (1989:41). Yet even within these differences of resources, we cannot ignore those patriarchal institutions, practices and discourses which emphasis a dichotomy of male/female difference, and thus make the category of woman a relevant one to feminist study. Female identity and subject positions are often not only represented but experienced through this dichotomy, making 'women' as a category a 'real' and necessary position for feminists to engage with. Paradoxically, feminists need to draw on this category to implement changes to the understanding of the category itself. My position takes this into account even though poststructuralist deconstruction, as a method, attempts to destabilise the unity of the category on patriarchal terms. I acknowledge the contradictions for feminists in using such a category of subjectivity, but nevertheless feel that for a feminist politics such a category remains necessary. However, overall it is assumed that the 'truth' of any unity is transitory and constructed rather than universal or static.

Discourse, Power and Agency

In a more general theorisation of subjectivity, the concept of discourse also needs to be considered. This is because discourses refer to and construct knowledges about people and "..define what is and is not appropriate in our

62 formation of, and our practice in relation to, a particular subject or site of social

activity; what knowledge is considered useful, relevant, and 'true' in that

context; and what sort of persons or 'subjects' embody it characteristics" (Hall,

1997:6). Discourses are relational and social. The statements made, the words

used and the meanings of the words used, depend upon where and against

what the statement is made. Discourses differ with the kinds of institutions and

social practices in which they take shape, and with the position of those who

speak and those whom the discourse may address (Macdonell, 1986:1).

The questions of this thesis concerning the representation of female subjectivity

in popular music culture are explored through this understanding of discourse

as a central concept in a constructionist theory of representation. In fact the

deployment of discourse as a feminist analytical tool springs from the broader

way in which "...questions of discourse, and the forms of signifying and

cultural relations, enables a certain emphasis upon the subject position inscribed in

representations and social practice. This enables a feminist analysis of the images

and representations of women, and 'the feminine' in the social formation"

(Rothfield, 1990:136).

Foucault suggests that discourse and subjectivity are closely linked. That is

because the activities of people take place through discourse (Kendall and

Wickham, 1999:53). As stated earlier, subjectivity in poststructuralist thought is

purely a social construction. Discourses construct subject positions - "...specific

positions of agency and identity in relation to particular forms of knowledge

and practice" (Nixon, 1997:303).

Equally important to analysing subjectivity are the concepts of power and

agency. In fact, the concepts of discourse and subjectivity cannot be fully

understood or mobilised within this thesis without the recognition of power

63 relations (especially patriarchal) and a discussion of how agency might be theorised in relation to the other concepts. This question of agency relates specifically to research question of how feminism has and can have an impact on the patriarchal meanings of music popular culture. An explanation of the

'nature' of power can help to start to frame an answer to this question.

Power at its most general definition is the capacity of a person or group to position their interests above others, and often to act purely in the interests of that group or individual. Many different definitions of power are used in common-sense discourses including the "..control over others, capacity to achieve goals, strength to resist influence" (Lips, 1991:14). However they all possess one common defining element, which "...is the capacity to make things happen as one wants them to, to have an impact on one's world" (Lips,

1991:14). Added to these individualistic conceptions is a recognition that power operates at a more structural level, often outside of the consciousness and/or agency of an individual (Lips, 1991:14). This structural level of power is a major concern for this thesis, in that it does not just examine individual abilities to represent a female musical performance in a certain light, but studies the way in which the values mobilised by a journalist, for example, are constructed through larger power relations within institutions (such as the media, family, education).

In conceiving of agency and the related issue of social change, Foucault's productive definition of power is a useful starting point. In an interview with

Alessandro Fontana and Pasquale Pasquino, Foucault states:

In defining the effects of power as repression, one adopts a purely juridical conception of such power, one identifies power with a law which says no, power is taken above all as carrying the force of prohibition. Now I believe that this is a wholly negative, narrow, skeletal conception of power, one which has been curiously widespread. If power were never but repressive, if it never did anything but to say no, do you

64 really think one would be brought to obey it? What makes power hold good, what makes it accepted, is simply the fact that it doesn't only weigh on us as a force that says no, but that it traverses and produces things, it induces pleasure, forms knowledge, produces discourse. It needs to be seen as a productive network which runs through the whole social body, much more than as a negative instance whose function is repression (Foucault, 1980:119).

Not only does Foucault see that power is productive and diffused but also that subjectivity and its theorising is inseparable from power. Kendell and Wickham note that Foucault conceptualised the subject as involved in its own constitution, "Subjects are active in producing themselves. More than that, they are active in producing themselves as subject in the sense of subjected to power."

(Kendell and Wickham, 1999:53). Furthermore, they suggest that "...in Foucault's account of power the formation of subjects is part and parcel of power's productivity" (Kendell and Wickham, 1999:52). Although the of power in Foucault's work is indeed problematic, it does allow for a productive force that does not necessarily benefit those 'in' power all of the time. This aspect of power as productive of social change and new social meanings is important to this research, in considering the question of feminism as a subjectivity, and as a practice for representational change within popular music culture.

Foucault's conception of discourse is one that addresses the issue of oppression and possible resistance, as he conceives of discourse as continually being deployed and active within the power nodes of a society. His understanding of the mechanisms of oppression and power is useful in avoiding deterministic models of materialism or pluralistic ones of endless cultural diversity. He says:

...we must not imagine the world of discourse divided between accepted discourse and excluded discourse, or between dominant discourse and the dominated one; but as a multiplicity of discursive elements that come into play at various strategies. It is this distribution that we must reconstruct, with the things said and those concealed, the enunciations required and

65 those forbidden, that it comprises; with the variants and different effects - according to who is speaking, his position of power, the institutional context in which he happens to be situated - that it implies... (Foucault, 1978:100).

Foucault's discourse as he describes it here, is useful for studying specific relations and representations and accounting for context. Meaning and discourse are not fixed, but change over time and place. Power is not necessarily seen to be the same thing as domination, or an all encompassing macro/top-down force. The importance of a theoretical concept that can accommodate social change is important to my feminist position, as social change is at the heart of feminist political action. This social change, however, made possible in Foucault concept of discourse, can be both oppressive and liberating:

Discourses are not once and for all subservient to power or raised up against it, any more than silences are. We must make allowance for the complex and unstable process whereby discourse can be both an instrument and an effect of power, but also a hindrance, a stumbling- block, a point of resistance and a starting point for an opposing strategy (Foucault, 1978:100-101).

Foucault's general understanding of discourse helps to argue for the possibility of resisting dominant ideological forces. He contributes the notion of "reverse discourse" to the debate, which meaning that a marginalised group can re- appropriate the dominate language and dominate discourses on a certain subject and re-invigorate such discourse into new meanings that are positive to the oppressed group. Foucault gives the example of the gay movement in taking up the same medicalised terms and categories used to differentiate them from mainstream society, to make a case for gay rights (Foucault, 1978:101). We might question the effectiveness of such a strategy, but it can still be argued that discourses carry within them the possibility for both repression and radical re-

66 appropriation. This is where a notion of agency can be conceptualised in the practices and discourses of context specific social phenomenon.

It should be noted that there are many criticisms of Foucault's notion of power.

Some feminists see it as unproductive for a feminist politics in that it is interpreted and understood as a plural accessible force, which cannot account for oppressive power relations or feminist claims of oppression (Ramazanoglu and Holland, 1993:239). Although one can agree that there are problems in using a Foucauldian approach, this thesis still regards his approach to power as significant. Specifically, I intend to emphasise power as more than a simple free floating set of possibilities. Susan Bordo suggests that Foucault's concept of power does not have to be interpreted as simply pluralistic, "...the fact that power is not held by anyone does not entail that it is equally held by all. It is

'held' by no one; but people and groups are positioned differently within it. No one may control the rules of the game, but not all players on the field are equal"

(Bordo, 1993:191).

The decentring of the subject, seen in Foucault's work and that of other poststructuralist tMnkers, can be seen as the end of a fixed and coherent basis on which to construct an 'acting' subject. This does not mean that individual/group agency is impossible, rather we simply need to be aware that there is no simply strategy or goal which can be revealed as the ultimate exercise of individual/group subjectivity. The tension between the active and passive subject may be one that is never resolved. Sawicki's reading of

Foucault's subject summarises the complexity of understanding individual action as well as reflecting the uncertainties for claiming a general theory of the subject:

I understand Foucault's project itself as presupposing the existence of a critical subject, one capable of critical reflection, refusal and invention. This

67 subject does not control the overall direction of history, but it is able to choose among the discourses and practices available to it and use them creatively. It is also able to reflect upon the implications of its choices as they are taken up and transformed in a hierarchical network of power relations. Finally, this subject can suspend adherence to certain principles and assumptions, or to specific interpretations of them, in efforts to invent new ones. Foucault's subject is neither entirely autonomous nor enslaved, neither the originator of the discourses and practices that constitute its experiences nor determined by them (Sawicki, 1991:103-104).19

In her final chapter Sawicki makes a case for feminist use of Foucault, although she criticises aspects of his work. The rejection of the unified subject is one of the main areas of contention, as it robs "...feminism of any effective agency or sense of authority" (Sawicki, 1991:96). She cites the criticisms of Linda Alcoff and others in their attack on Foucault for leaving "...feminism with no normative or theoretical basis for making political " (Sawicki,

1991:96).

These feminist criticisms of Foucault, and other male poststructuralist thinkers, have led to some important re-working of his theories. In relation to agency and identity, Linda Alcoff proposes the idea of positionality as a way of circumventing the problems of decentring the subject for a feminist politics. She argues that it is possible to retain both a sense of agency and a recognition of limitations of the subject within his/her positioning. She summarises the concept of positioning as having two defining parts, firstly:

...that the concept of woman is a relational terms identifiable only within a (constantly moving) context..., second, that the position that women find themselves in can be actively utilized (rather than transcended) as a location for the construction of meaning, a place from where meaning is constructed, rather than simply the place where meaning can be discovered (the meaning of femaleness) (Alcoff, 1995:452).

y This point is echoed by Kendall and Wickham when they argue that Foucault's position does not add up to structural determinism. Rather they interpret the three concepts of the subject, power and knowledge as a mutual triad of dependency and argue that to debate which comes first is an aberration as each constructs the other (1999:54).

68 Subjectivity then, is a position within a context which is actively lived rather than passively given. This notion of positionality relates to a Foucauldian theorisation of the subject as de-centred but also constructed within and through recognisable knowledge/power forces. This does not mean that a discourse is monolithic in its discursive field, rather that by understanding the subject as contingent "...we can think of different subject positions taken up in discourse, positions that can be and are contradictory and irrational. For a

Foucauldian account of the subject, attention must be drawn to the ways in which power relations differentially position subjects in discourse..." (Kendall and Wickham, 1999:54).

Positionality as a theoretical concept allows for different readings and meanings depending upon context and historical factors. It links the problem of classifying women as an essential category to a view of the subject as decentred but strategic, and lived through various social contexts and constraints. Elizabeth Grosz' use of the concept of strategy complements the term positionality in that she sees a fixed feminist set of goals and rules as impossible:

... should consider itself a form of strategy. Strategy involves recognizing the situation and alignments of power within and against which it operates...

As a series of strategic interventions into patriarchal social and theoretical paradigms, feminism must develop a versatile and wide-ranging set of conceptual tools and methodological procedures to arm itself defensively and offensively (Grosz, 1990a:59-60).

Grosz sees Foucault's work within this strategic framework, noting that

Foucault himself never made statements of truth in regards to his own writings and histories, rather "He considers them 'useful fictions', that is, tools or tactics of challenge. They are oppositional discourses to those which aspire to truth,

69 authority, and power. Thus he does not present a theory of power, but develops

a series of methods for examining the truth-effects of knowledges" (Grosz,

1990a:86).

Nancy Fraser denies that a Foucauldian approach is opposed to a female

agency, arguing that it is possible to have a critical de-centred subject as well as

a theory of agency: "...nothing in principle precludes that subjects are both

culturally constructed and capable of critique" (Fraser, 1995a:67). The use of

Foucault's insights into power can provide a subject that is both

constrained/constituted by power as well as made an agent of change. If

"...power is seen as productive, inherently neither positive nor negative..."

(Hollway, 1992:249) then analysing power relations is not simply about

outlining oppression, but about finding the spaces for change and contextual

liberation. Furthermore, it is the contradiction in discourses that can open up

challenges to oppressive power relations although this is not an easy or

permanently fixed process. Wendy Hollway considers contradiction a key

process/experience in understanding social change at the level of subjectivity:

Changes don't automatically eradicate what went before - neither in structure nor in the way that practices, powers and meanings have been produced historically. Consciousness-changing is not accomplished by new discourses replacing old ones. It is accomplished as a result of the contradictions in our positioning, desires and practices - and thus in our subjectivities - which result in the coexistence of the old and the new. Every relation and every practice to some extent articulates such contradictions and therefore is a site of potential change as much as it is a site of reproduction (Hollway, 1992:271).

In terms of feminist intervention, my position is that these contradictions act as

possible openings to changing the social relations which marginalise and

brutalise both men and women. As Bibby Martin points out feminists need to

create alternate positions of meaning that confront naturalised patriarchal

discourses (Martin, 1992:286). This needs to be done carefully, understanding

70 the specific context in which these alternatives might have a chance of success.

Sawicki summarises the caution that needs to be taken in regards to dismantling the humanist subject for feminist politics, "While self-refusal may be an appropriate practice for a privileged white male intellectual such as

Foucault, it is less obviously strategic for feminist and other disempowered groups" (Sawicki, 1991:106).

However, Foucault's work makes it possible to consider or to question how universally useful traditional organisation of social movements, like feminism, may be. As stated by Grosz, Foucault prompts feminists to ask whether such organisation is the best way to attain changes, "Smaller groups of militants, well-positioned and strategically armed, may well be more successful in effecting change than large-scale mass organizations" (Grosz, 1990a:89).20 In this vein Foucault challenges totalising theories of social change. Yet the problem has been to emphasise one at the expense of the other. The crux of the problem with Foucault is that he did not put forward a detailed theory of resistance, and more importantly "...he did not seem concerned about the difference between resisting and winning" (Ramazanoglu and Holland, 1993:258). However, the question remains as to the nature of the power relations that make possible certain positions/representations and marginalise others. Women's agency is constructed through patriarchal relations which make certain positions risky or even dangerous to take up. An individual or group may aspire to certain subject positions, but access to authenticating them within dominant spheres will be no straightforward process. This is where feminism has had to step in and re-consider the moral and political aspects of power specifically in relation to women in a historically based analysis.

For example, see Certeau's work (1984) on subversive tactics.

71 Patriarchy and Power

The problem with Foucault's conceptions of power as a productive force is obvious for a feminist position which regards patriarchy as a power structure.

Although Foucault has several important insights into power, as a feminist critique of popular music culture this thesis needs to delineate patriarchy as a force of power that has distinct consequences for women. Thus because this research raises feminist issues about female inequality this discussion of power needs to be extended in relation to patriarchy as a system which has subordinated women's interests to men's (Weedon, 1987:2). Gendered power relations cannot be examined without a concept like patriarchy:

...the concept and theory of patriarchy is essential to capture the depth, pervasiveness and interconnectedness of different aspects of women's subordination, and can be developed in such a way as to take account of the different forms of gender inequality over time, class and ethnic group (Walby, 1990:2).

Although patriarchy as a concept can be seen as a monolithic way of viewing women's oppression, Walby makes a strong case in her own theorisation of the concept for a more flexible and differentiated notion of patriarchal power.

Taking Western and Britain as her examples Walby argues that there are at least six structures on which patriarchal power can function, which interact and affect each other. These structures include household production, paid-work, the state, male violence, relations in sexuality, and cultural institutions (1990:20-21).

By theorising patriarchy through various different structures Walby avoids charges of essentialism/reductionism and pluralism. She also is able to make room for social change at the same time as maintaining a structured view of

72 gender relations (Walby, 1990:20-21). For my own research such an approach is essential in capturing the changes in women's position as well as the continuing problem of women's inequality as a group. For example, Walby offers insights into the changes in the dominant definitions of femininity in the twentieth century claiming that feminine/masculine differentiation is no longer tied prominently to the division between the unpaid domestic sphere and the paid world of work (1990:107). Yet any feminist celebration of this change needs to take account of Walby's further argument that sexual attractiveness has become the key signifier of femininity with the displacement of the public/private split that previously defined normalised femininity (Walby, 1990:107).

The degree and form of patriarchy also needs to be taken in to account and differentiated. Some aspects of patriarchal power have lessened in terms of degree, such as educational attainments and wage differences between men and women. These changes have also paralleled an intensification of patriarchal relations from the private sphere to the public sphere. Employment and the state are now the most significant forms of patriarchy which dominate women's lives (Walby, 1990:23-24). These more prominent structures of patriarchy have accompanied a shift from exclusionary strategies in private patriarchy to segregationist and subordinating ones in its public form (Walby, 1990:178-179):

Public patriarchy is a form in which women have access to both public and private arenas. They are not barred from the public arenas, but are nonetheless subordinated within them. The expropriation of women is performed more collectively than by individual patriarchs. The household may remain a site of patriarchal oppression, but it is no longer the main place where women are present (Walby, 1990:178).

In regards to women in popular music, the significance of public patriarchy is analysed within the media representations of successful female performers.

The identification by Walby of a growth in public patriarchy is also significant in analysing the identification and representation of feminism as an acceptable

73 identity within the public realm of popular culture. For example, if the equality of women is measured by their access and supposedly unhindered choice to enter the public world of the music performer, then feminism as a practice and identity may be marginalised as irrelevant. Often the choice to pursue a working life is now seen as related to personal desire rather than dictated by

'sexist' rules and ideologies of the past and to some extent women have been

'liberated' from official regulations and behaviours which excluded them.

However, the recognition of public equality for women in terms of law and official practices has been collapsed into an apparent equity in cultural, social and economic changes. Moreover, those existing inequalities are then interpreted as the 'natural' differences left over, those differences that cannot be changed because they are rooted in essential differences. The tendency in the music press to connect the label feminism with 'old-fashioned' and 'out-of-date' notions of women as victims, suggests that the claiming of a public politically organised feminism challenges the common-sense status-quo of Western women as equal. Rather a personalised, individualised feminist identity is often more acceptable by using alternative labels and/or by comparing a female performer's feminism against a perceived second wave perception of it.

Theorising Music as Social Text

Having summarised the broad theoretical tools and problems which this thesis explores, the following section narrows down the theoretical focus to the approaches and debates in the study of music as a way of understanding music as a representational system and a social text. Rather than positioning music as a closed representational system without links to the social world, various research has put the social construction of musical meaning centre-stage. This research has come from various disciplines, and often straddles more than one

74 approach, including musicology, sociology, cultural studies, semiotics, and . Jon Shepherd, combining musicology, sociology, feminist insights and postmodern theory, has written extensively on the social nature of music stating simply, "If it is accepted that people's thought processes are socially mediated, then it could be said that the basic qualities of different styles of music are likewise socially mediated and so socially significant" (Shepherd,

1991:12). Within social theory, music has in fact been a special interest appearing in the work of Weber (1921), Adorno (1973,1987), and Attali (1985) all of whom have attempted to theorise a relationship between society and music.

Although Adorno himself took account of the musical structures themselves, much of the research coming from the area of popular music studies has been divided between the musicological and the sociological.21 For those researchers coming from a sociological tradition, and lacking musical knowledge at the formal level, popular music has been explored through everything but the music itself.22 This is because music is a difficult medium to capture and explain through non-specialist language. Shepherd and Wicke have argued that most attempts to study popular music within cultural theory have failed to account for music as a unique cultural text and signifying practice (1997:1-4).

On the other hand musicology has often obscured the study of musical meaning through specialist language and knowledge which does not translate well to a sociological research approach or to a general reader (see McClary and

Walser, 1990).23

21 Adorno was a trained musicologist (Etzkorn, 1973:18) 22 Some relevant sociological attempts to link popular music to a social/historical context include BaUantine (1984), Frith (1983), Pratt (1990), Curtis (1987) and Chambers (1985) Wicke (1987). 2^ Musicological approaches to popular music, however, help to delineate the complex elements of musical texts which are often made up of many different layers simultaneously (McClary and Walser, 1990). The finished product that we hear on the radio, or on our home music systems "...is composed of rhythm and and melody and instrumental timbre and lyrics and...other elements as well" (Moore, 1993:31). Thus finding a theory which

75 In gaining an textual insight into the female musical performances exemplified in this thesis, social semiotics has provided a starting point. From using a semiotic approach, a musical text can be broken down into relevant signifying elements, transforming the musical text from personal creative expression to a social signifying system. However traditional semiotics, based in the study of linguistic events, is difficult to translate onto a musical text. The semiotic focus on structural linguistics often ignores the way language is used in everyday practice and fundamentally ignores other signifying systems. For example, in the study of the pop song, the researcher must ask the question of whether and to what extent the listener constructs meaning from the lyrics.24 The singing voice contains both linguistic and extra-linguistic meaning, yet the concentration on lyrics in many studies (see Chapter One) has meant a total silencing of other elements such as melody, timbre, timing. Gino Stefani suggests that by ignoring melody and the way it is represented we are ignoring an element of popular music that is the most assessable to the 'untrained' listener. He argues that far from being secondary to the lyrics " ...it is that dimension of music which everyone can easily appropriate in many ways: with the voice by singing, whistling or putting words to it..." (Stefani, 1987:21).

Similarly Jon Shepherd argues that timbre is one of the most fundamental musical elements that make up a listeners experience, suggesting that it is a major sound element that literally comes before any other. He claims that pitch, rhythm and melody cannot exist without it. For Shepherd timbre is the "Tactile core of sound..." and "...the texture or grain without which sound cannot reach us..." (1991:90-91).25

acknowledged all these aspects as well as relating them to a social analysis of music, without the obscxiring tendencies of musicological jargon, has been a major task of doing this research. 24 Some studies have highlighted the problem of assuming that lyrical meanings are dominant or even relevant to an audience. In a study by Denisoff and Levine (1972) it was found that audience did not interpret the protest messages of songs as expected. 25 Although one might argue with Shepherd concerning the essence he attaches to timbre (see Cranny-Francis, 1994:45), and some of the essentialist overtones of some of his analysis, his

76 These kinds of approaches to the music text have shown how language has had a hegemonic influence on the understanding of music, suggesting that for too long the forms of verbal and written linguistic based language have been forced onto music as a signifying system (Shepherd and Wicke, 1997:139). Thus they argue that the researcher of music needs to make a distinction between sound as a material phenomenon and the "...use of language to mediate awareness of this experience in ways specific to language which then makes talk about music possible" (Shepherd and Wicke, 1997:147). With the aim of developing a study of the material level of the music, they construct what they call "...a semiology distinct from the semiology which developed from the work of Saussure..."

(1997:98-99).

Despite these arguments concerning the relevance of linguistic meaning in relation to music, written language is a representational source of study in this thesis, and thus I need to signal an emphasis in this research on the mediation of musical phenomena through various linguistic formations. In researching the linguistic representations of musical performance I have also had to become aware of the musical texts that are referred to in these representations. In doing this an eclectic group of researchers and theoretical traditions have been drawn upon, including the insights already discussed. However, one of the main influences has been van Leeuwen's expanded semiotic approach to sound.

Van Leeuwen's approach situates the study of sound, noise and music into several broad areas such as voice quality, melody, perspective and rhythm. In each case he gives social explanations as to the possible meanings that may be associated with certain semiotic elements. He argues that every sound event carries with it possible semiotic choices, as well as a social context. He provides recognition that specific theoretical and methodological tools are needed to study music as a social text has been a major contribution to this problem.

77 what he calls a set of meaning potential for each kind of semiotic value (e.g. pitch, rhythm, sonic texture) while taking account of context. Context is important as "...same sound can be used to mean one thing in one context and another in another context" (van Leeuwen, 1999:10). For example, a vocalist who uses extreme vibrato in his/her vocal performance has a potential semiotic code to express intense, authentic emotion. Also, the context and other semiotic elements of the song will narrow down the kind of emotion which is recognised by a listener. Anger, fear, love and romance can be represented by this same vocal element. Furthermore, these emotions may be interpreted as heartfelt and sincere, or as a parody of musical genres or performances claiming extreme emotional displays.

Another example of a move away from structural linguistics in musical analysis can be seen in Phillip Tagg's "inter-objective comparison" approach. Although drawing on semiotics and a musicological background, he, like van Leeuwen, extends the discipline by regarding the object of study, music, as a socio- cultural field of study (Tagg, 1982:45). He regards traditional musicological tools as inadequate for a popular music analysis and sets out a detailed example to make sense of the popular music meanings. He is wary of structural semiotic methods which, like a musicological approach, can marginalise questions of extra-musical meaning by focusing on the formal musical elements

(Tagg, 1982:41-43). Tagg's insistence on both an internal reading and an intertextual one is significant for a sociological analysis.

Musical Discourses and Power

Although the above research approaches clearly address theoretical and practical problems of studying music as a social text, we need to also consider how we can also study power. Mobilising discourse as a concept can help in

78 such an analysis. In fact, if we consider music as a discourse, rather than simply an artistic form of expression, it is possible to trace musical meanings which construct gendered identities. That is, by using discourse we can take music seriously as a source of production of subject positions, rather than a reflection of another system, especially that of verbal language. In regards to approaching popular music as a social text, discourse is an important theoretical concept which positions music as socially significant. Although it has already been suggested that music is a unique signifying system, this does not mean that it is outside of power/social relations. The concept of musical discourses helps to pinpoint the construction of knowledge statements within the musical medium.

Susan McClary (1991) and Robert Walser (1993) have undertaken two studies that have clearly adopted Foucauldian notions of discourse in relation to music and power relations. McClary takes this notion as a starting point for an examination of both art and popular music:

Like any social discourse, music is meaningful precisely insofar as at least some people believe that it is and act in accordance with that belief. Meaning is not inherent in music, but neither is it in language: both are activities that are kept afloat only because communities of people invest in them, agree collectively that their signs serve as valid currency (McClary, 1991:21).

McClary is expressing a notion of discourse as the organisation and representation of 'truth'. She goes on to make the important point that when we talk about discourses, even embodied within music, we are not just talking about a set of values, beliefs and practices which simply reflect a society which is external and separate from our musical experiences, "...rather, social reality itself is constituted within such discursive practices. It is in accordance with the terms provided by language, film, advertising, ritual, or music that individuals are socialized: take on gendered identities, learn ranges of proper behaviours,

79 structure their and even their experiences" (McClary, 1991:21). That is, musical discourses are part of the construction of our subjectivities.

Similarly, Robert Walser mobilises discourse as one of his main analytical tools in his study Heavy Metal music and fans. This is because he sees it as linking musical aesthetic forms with the social context of that form. He claims that by using the analytical concept of discourse, the material and social elements of the music can be understood, "By approaching music genres as discourses, it is possible to specify not only certain formal characteristics of genres but also a range of understandings shared among musicians and fans concerning the interpretation of those characteristics" (Walser, 1993:28). Walser extends the use of discourse as a concept from its relationship to language "..to any socially produced way of thinking or communicating" (Walser, 1993:28-29). His approach to music as a social text is articulated below:

Like genres and discourses, musical meanings are contingent but never arbitrary. There is never any essential correspondence between particular musical signs or processes and specific social meanings, yet such signs and processes would never circulate if they did not produce such meanings. Musical meanings are always grounded socially and historically, and they operate on an ideological field of conflicting interests, institutions, and memories. If this makes them extremely difficult to analyze, it does so by forcing analysis to confront the complexity and antagonism of culture. This is a postructuralist view of music in that it sees all signification as provisional, and it seeks for no essential truths inherent in structures, regarding all meanings as produced through the interaction of texts and reader. It goes further in suggesting that subjectivity is constituted not only through language, as Lacan and others have argued, but through musical discourses as well (Walser, 1993:29-30).

The theorising of the relationship between language, subjectivity and music is made clearer in relation to the concept of musical discourses. Feminist writers have also focused on feminine subjectivity, sexuality and musical representations in an attempt to show how music is situated within patriarchal discursive fields. Susan McClary has noted through her own sociologically

80 framed musical analysis how musical forms and structures construct sexual identity and relations (1991). McClary's work has been influential in developing a feminist critique of both musicological and sociological approaches, and leads into the next discussion of feminist theoretical influences and approaches to studying the musical text.

Feminism, a Female Aesthetic, and Representation

The literature and research covered so far has dealt with the broad question of how to study music as a social text while maintaining a sensitivity to the uniqueness and specificity of music. However, feminist writers/researchers, while engaging with the former problem as exemplified by Susan McClary's work, have also been concerned with the connection between musical aesthetics and female representation. The kinds of questions which feminism has raised, not just in terms of music but in most traditional and popular forms of culture, include whether, when and how it might be possible to articulate a 'progressive' female expression within a patriarchal society. As discussed in Chapter One, feminists have spent a great deal of time re-evaluating female creative work as well as revealing the reasons for women's lack of involvement in the high culture forms of art and literature. While noting the barriers to women as cultural producers, feminists have insisted that we look at the very criteria which makes up artistic evaluations. As Felski states, "The marginal position of female artists is not just a material question of lack of money, education, and resources. It is also expressed and reinforced in the very language, vocabulary, and norms of aesthetic evaluation" (Felski, 2000:177).

Part of this re-evaluation of women's creative activity and art works has meant that feminists, in various contexts and theoretical traditions, have called for a

81 strategy which constructs a 'female' aesthetic, discovering the "...distinctive features of female creativity..." (Felski, 2000:177). A female or feminine aesthetic presumes that there is a set of artistic elements which most 'truthfully' express a female point-of-view or experience (often this aesthetic is collapsed into a feminist politics, hence the interchangeability of the designated subject female/feminine/feminist). Many feminists have devised criteria to reveal a female /feminine aesthetic which is conceived of as existing outside the world of patriarchal criticism, creating an alternative space for a feminist creativity. For example, Heide Gottner-Abendroth proposes a matriarchal aesthetic which challenges the patriarchal boundaries existing between author and text, and styles and genres (1985:81-84). Although this kind of approach has many problems (including the dangers of essentialism) it is a strategy that has appeared in both the academic and popular representations of an artistic feminist politics. Thus claiming a feminist/female/feminine aesthetic is a strategy of resistance to a creative world conceived through patriarchal dichotomies and hierarchies.

Although this question of aesthetics, as a theory of sensory perception, has taken place in the feminist literature on the , it is certainly also relevant to a study of music. In musical studies, the influence of some of Irigaray's (1980, 1981) and Kristeva's (1985) ideas are significant in approaching the feminist question of female creativity and expression. For

Irigaray, the feminine is a metaphor for the marginal and non-symbolic world of the semiotic. The feminine also signifies a multiplicity of expression which cannot be defined within phallocentric discourse, based on the differing sexualities of female and male bodies. Irigaray suggests that certain forms of writing express women's specific and different sexual experiences outside of a male centred experience. For Cox, this understanding can help articulate a feminine musicality different from a masculine expression. She says "...while

82 phallocentric culture is based on singularity, identity, and specificity, women's sexual experience is indefinite, cyclic, without set beginnings and endings"

(Cox, 1991:334). Cox mobilises Irigaray's ideas by providing musical indicators which reflect these radical feminine expressions outside the symbolic order:

A music modeled on feminine writing would engage the listener in the musical moment rather then in the structure as a whole; would have a flexible, cyclical form; and would involve continuous repetition with variation, the cumulative growth of an idea. Such music would serve to deconstruct musical hierarchies and the dialectical juxtaposition and resolution of opposites, disrupt linearity, and avoids definitive closures. In sung music, vocalization would be relaxed and make use of nonverbal or presymbolic sounds (Cox, 1991:334).

This approach is useful for feminism in that it re-values the feminine as significant in its difference, and radical and almost revolutionary in its oppositional presence. It is also problematic, in that it takes an essentialist approach to social change. For example, one direct critical point of Irigaray's work is that although she talks of the multiplicity of female sexuality she does not really take into consideration differences within the category of women,

"...is women's sexuality so monolithic that a notions of shared, typical femininity does justice to it? What about variations in class, race, and in culture among women? What about changes over times in one woman's sexuality (with men, with women, by herself?). How can one libidinal voice...speak for all women?" (Jones, 1991:363). Other feminists have pointed out that understanding the feminine through an essentialised sexual body is risky in the current patriarchally defined structures of Western Capitalist societies (Wolff,

1990:120-122,137-138).

Nevertheless, the articulation of a female aesthetic and the attempts of French feminism, and others using their work, to theorise sexual/gendered differences has opened up opportunities for exploring the musical and non-linguistic

83 elements of the text. As this thesis is concerned with female musical performance at the level of the human voice, these ideas are important to acknowledge. For example, in Barthes' use of Kristeva's concept of the geno- song and the pheno-song he tries to explain the extra-linguistic sound of the voice, or "grain of the voice", as well as suggesting the possible radical readings for some vocal performances over others. While the pheno-song is that part of the voice that "...covers all phenomenon, all features which belong to the structure of the language being sung, the rules of the genre, the coded form of the melisma, the composer's ideolect, the style of the interpretation..." (Barthes,

1990:295) the geno-song expresses jouissance. The geno-song he states:

...forms a signifying play having nothing to do with communication, representation (of feelings), expression; it is that apex (or that depth) of production where the melody really works at the language - not at what it says, but the voluptuousness of its sound-signifiers, of its letters - where melody explores how the language works and identifies with that work (Barthes, 1990:295).

Barthes' approach can be further understood if Kristeva's notion of the semiotic is explored. For Kristeva, the musical is often a vehicle for the expression of the pre-symbolic, where extra-linguistic utterances are cast within a radical poetic language:

Kristeva's semiotic, pre-verbal sign announces prosidy, 's departure from prose, musicality and the unspeakable forces, energy and drives, which poets and artists strive to express in their attacks against and modifications of traditional forms; it announces the infancy of the child and of the child's relationship with the mother prior to language acquisition and symbolic separation (Smith, 1998a: 15).

Kristeva saw this semiotic poetic language in various writers, for example

Mallarme, Nerval, and Lautreamont. In these and other examples she sees the more prominent use of extra-linguistic elements as a way to acknowledge the semiotic. In terms of language the semiotic ruptures the symbolic in "...rhythm,

84 rhyme, alliteration, onomatopoeia, tone, modulation and word-play..." (Smith, 1998a:22).

This understanding of two modes of expression, at odds but always interacting, has its problems. This is because my feminist perspective finds it difficult to see the relevance of possible feminine resistance caught beyond the symbolic (Weedon, 1987:166), where the symbolic is determined through the psycho- sexual drama of sexual development. However such work has pointed to the extra-linguistic elements of the voice or vocality. In using vocality as a starting point from which to approach the human voice, I draw from Dunn and Jones who use the term to describe:

...a broader spectrum of utterance. Too often "voice" is conflated with speech, thereby identifying language as the primary carrier of meaning. However, human vocality encompasses all the voice's manifestations....each of which is invested with social meanings not wholly determined by linguistic content (Dunn and Jones, 1994:1).

Again, this relates back to the previous discussion concerning the dominance of linguistic models of signification. Using the above definition, and the insights of Barthes and Kristeva, the voice becomes a set of linguistic and sound elements, each informing the other. In fact Kristeva's rejection of Lacan's emphasis on verbal language is important in developing a position that recognises other sense experience in constructing meaning. In fact without these other senses

(including touch, taste, smell, and hearing) the attainment of any complex verbal language would be severely restricted (Grosz, 1990c:157-158).

Although the insights of feminism into a female aesthetic such as the feminine semiotic rupture of the symbolic challenge the value system of masculine artistic subjectivity, the position which I emphasise is one that sees any female aesthetic as contingent on historical, social, political and economic factors. It is

85 impossible to locate a female/feminine/feminist aesthetic which exists outside patriarchal power or outside the social:

...male-defined images, metaphors, and narratives are powerful and all- pervasive. We cannot simply cast off these false representations to uncover unblemished and authentic female reality. Any attempt to depict women's perspective is enmeshed within rhetoric, narrative, and figure, shaped by the symbols and conventions of a phallocentric culture. Feminism cannot, in this sense, exist outside the male-defined heritage of aesthetic representations.

But the aesthetic also acquires a positive value. Given the importance of language and culture in shaping reality, questioning representation can become a powerful means of questioning the social world (Felski, 2000:183).

Feminists may wish to delineate a female point-of-view but this will be historically specific and needs to be strategically placed rather than universalised with an aesthetic set of criteria. At some points in history, feminism has and may need to make claims that risk the label of essentialism as a way of challenging dominant masculine values of expression. As Imelda Whelehan suggests, the problem of essentialism may need to be considered, at least in come contexts, as part of a strategy of feminist Utopia, as an abstract space where women "...can think outside their current social reality..."

(1995:214). However, be that as it may it is important to be careful who and what styles we label 'truthful', 'liberating' and 'authentic' expressions. A female aesthetic can easily marginalise a work in much the same manner as that of the artistic canon. As Griselda Pollock points out/the alternative criteria which may be re-constructed by a feminist analysis may have the effect of ghettoising the female artist even more. By claiming alternative criteria to judge art produced by women:

The effect is to leave intact that very notion of evaluating art, and of course the normative standards by which it is done. for women's art to be assessed by different values ensures that women's art is confined within a gender-defined category, and, at the same time, that the

86 general criterion for appreciating art remains that which is employed in discussing work by men. Men's art remains the supra-sexual norm precisely because women's art is assessed by what are easily dismissed as partisan or internally constructed values (Pollock, 1988:27).

It is often presumed that a female aesthetic lies within the styles, genres, and internal elements of the cultural artefact or representation. Yet any political reading of an art form or object cannot rely on its internal elements. It is not simply "...a question of expressing the right feminist content or espousing an authentically subversive feminine form. It also involves thinking about how art is produced, disseminated, and interpreted" (Felski, 2000:187). This statement is clearly relevant to the specific situation of music and popular music. Feminism, at least in the past one hundred years, has had a popular public face, and the musical representation of a feminist subjectivity is a point of focus for this thesis. Furthermore, Felski makes the point that a feminine aesthetic is often constructed through a discourse of authenticity. In the following analysis of the representation of female musical performances this question of an 'authentic' performance is examined as a possible discourse which is mobilised by different interests and institutions.

The meaning of a text also lies with the positioning of the audience and the way alternative textual representations can produce or change the mainstream preferred meanings of the feminine, the feminist and the musical subject. The following discussion concerning the theorisation of the audience attempts to address this meaning-making process.

87 Theorising the Audience: Texts, Readers and Producers

In exploring the question of representation and female identity in popular

music culture, this thesis considers several internet fan groups, including

newsgroups and mailing lists (see Appendix B), as a way of analysing the

discourses which are mobilised in fan discussions to construct meanings

concerning female musical performers. An approach to the audience needs to

be outlined before the actual substantive analysis can proceed. This last section

briefly sets out the approach taken to the audience. In particular the specificity

of fan audiences will be examined as well as discussing the appropriateness of

mobilising the concept of the active audience/reader, and outlining the relevant

debates which have emerged out of the growing but controversial areas of

audience studies.

At a very general level, most definitions of the audience contain the

acknowledgment of an artefact or message which is presented or sent to the

audience as the receiver. McQuail suggests that at its most basic level, audience

"...refers to readers, viewers or listeners of one or another media channel or of

this or that type of content or performance" (McQuail, 1994:183). In terms of the

music media audience these texts are most obviously manifested in mass

produced objects (such as eds, books, posters, clothing). The recorded musical

performance has become the mainstay of the music industry and the

interactions between the recorded musical texts, media and fan representations,

form the centre of analysis in the preceding chapters.

To begin such an analysis, the musical, visual, verbal, and written

representations explored in this thesis are considered as texts which are socially

and economically produced and which communicate, through the discourses

88 they contain, meanings about gender relations and identity. They are communicative artefacts which audiences are able to engage with on an economic and social level:

They are commodities which can enter social and economic relations: they can be advertised, sold for profit, presented as gifts, owned as property. Their creation typically involves divisions of labour and their use involves a wide range of social, political, and cultural practices (Graddol, 1994:41).

The above definition suggests that to make any sense of a media text you must include some recognition of the consumer. This notion of text/audience as part of an inseparable unit means that any analysis of the content and meaning of texts needs to include an understanding of the possible audiences engaged in the signification process. In the following analytical chapters an effort has been made to consider and compare the academic textual analysis with the discourses generated by certain fan cultures. Furthermore, this consideration of

'real' fan audiences is considered through a theorisation of that audience as potentially active but also constrained by context, resources, and social inequalities.

The concept of the active audience or reader has emerged from the inadequacies of audience theories based on notions of the mass audience (e.g.

Frankfurt School) as well as a general dichotomy made in common-sense and academic discourse, between high culture (reflecting a discerning audience) and low culture (reflecting a duped mass audience). Furthermore, the active reader has also been situated as a remedy to psychological accounts of audience manipulation and propaganda within the media effects tradition (see

Nightingale, 1993; Turner, 1993). Feminist cultural and literary studies have also embraced the active reader as a re-valuation of the female reader as intelligent, and are attempting to redress the ideas of traditional aesthetic and literary theory which centred on the rational masculine subject as the bearer of

89 cultural taste and value. Certainly the position taken in this research has been influenced by popular cultural and feminist studies who have shown the complexities of engagement between the audience and the text.26

In particular the research taken into fans and fan culture, already reviewed in

Chapter One, has highlighted the active audience as resourceful, productive,

and critical. Abercrombie and Longhurst describe several types of fans. The

type which most closely defines the internet groups analysed is what they call

cultists. They see cultists as more in line with the recent studies of fans in

cultural studies:

In moving on from fans the cultist focuses his/her media use. They may still be relatively heavy users but this use revolves around certain defined and refined tastes. The media use has become more specialized, but tends to be based on programmes which, and stars who, are in mass circulation. The specialization also occurs through the increased consumption (and generation) of literature which is specific to the cult...Cultists are more organised than fans. They meet each other and circulate specialized materials that constitute the nodes of a network...In our terms, then, cultists are linked through network relations which may take a number of forms, but which are essentially characterized by informality (Abercrombie and Longhurst, 1998:139).

Although I will be using the term fan, the internet groups and the individual

contributors fall more broadly into the above definition of the cultist.27 These

explanations of fan activity also point to the agency of individuals to present

themselves as subject, through their activities and attachments with media

forms and artefacts. Although in the past audiences, and their engagement with

media products, have been understood as impoverished and even pathological

(see Jenson, 1992), the concepts and theories mobilised in this thesis draw on a

26 For example, a prolific amount of feminist work has been done into the reader of the romance popular fiction and television soap opera. In this work feminism has re-assessed female audiences relationship to these texts as pleasurable and tactical, even empowering, rather than simply manipulated and/or banal (see Moores, 1993:39-49). 27 I prefer the term fan as I feel the label of "cultist" (Abercrombie and Longhurst, 1998:139) marginalises the activities and behaviours of those audiences even more than the term fan.

90 more complex understanding of the relationship between the reader and the performance.

By taking up a position which recognises the active audience I do not want to suggest that this activity necessarily constitutes a significant social challenge or change to the dominant production of meaning. We must also take into account not only the power of certain audiences but also competing power relations circulating beyond individual intention and action. Although the active audience points to the complexity and diversity of audience interactions and meanings, it does not necessarily follow that any activity can be interpreted as resistant or subversive. The active audience should not be confused with the resistant or politically subversive reader (Abercrombie and Longhurst,

1998:30).28

Although the active audience is a starting point for an analysis of fan internet culture it does not provide a framework for critical analysis. To extend the analysis into the evaluation of audience meanings, in relation to feminist goals, Hall's (2001) model of encoding/decoding has been useful as a starting point for critically analysing the discourses constructing female musical performance, and the possible subject positions made available in those texts for audiences. Conceptualising the reader and the producer in a two way relationship, Hall maintains there are both limits to the meaning-making process as well as contradictions, mis-communications, and oppositions. He identifies three main readings including dominant-hegemonic, negotiated and oppositional. The dominant-hegemonic reading position works within the codes through which the text was constructed by the producers. The oppositional position works

28 John Fiske's work (1989a, 1989b) can be used to illustrate the kinds of problems that can arise in not distinguishing more precisely between popular activity, resistance and patriarchal compliance. Shaun Moores points out that his pluralist culturalist position can mean that sexist and racist ideologies are ignored in a general celebration of consumer re-appropriation (Moores, 1993:133). For further criticisms of cultural pluralism see McRobbie (1994) and Harris (1992).

91 outside the intended code, and produces an alternative set of meanings that can reject or simply re-appropriate the intended meanings. However, the main position of interest in this thesis is the negotiated reading. Hall explains this position below:

Decoding within the negotiated version contains a mixture of adaptive and oppositional elements: it acknowledges the legitimacy of the hegemonic definitions to make the grand significations (abstract), while, at a more restricted, situational (situated) level, it makes its own ground rules - it operates with exceptions to the rule. It accords privileged position to the dominant definitions of events while reserving the right to make a more negotiated application to 'local conditions'...(Hall, 2001:131).

In dealing with the question of female subjectivity in terms of the three categories of the feminine, the feminist and the musical, the concepts of compliance, resistance and negotiation are central to understanding audience readings. In exploring the possibilities for feminist re-evaluation of female musical performances, the contrary situation of the audience in relation to a text opens up the possibilities for new images and meanings. A negotiated reading exposes the contradictions in discourses, as well as illustrates the difficulties in simply refusing a subject position constructed by these discourses.

Anne Cranny-Francis (1992:189-196) provides a model for differentiating the kinds of readings a researcher may find in an audience's response. She uses the concept of the compliant reader which is equivalent to Hall's dominant- hegemonic reader. However, she emphasises that most compliant readers are not wholly so. The resistant reader may cover a large spectrum of responses including a conscious rejection of a text on well-thought-out political grounds or the reader may reject a text on an unarticulated feeling of discomfort. The tactical reader, is similar to the resistant reader, but contains the notion of a re- appropriation or alternative reading of a text, usually made by disempowered groups. This reader can transgress the dominant meaning of a text, but as noted

92 by Cranny-Francis, this kind of reading is problematic if taken by the researcher:

Tactical raids are all very well, so long as we remember that the reason they occur is that the raiders are socially disadvantaged or displaced and their raids simply make the system bearable for them. If those raids are so highly valued that no other action is seen as necessary, however, we are simply ensuring the maintenance of the system (Cranny-Francis, 1992:194).

In terms of popular music, audience resistance may come from the way musical values are made meaningful through different performance elements articulated in the dominant discourses of patriarchal texts, such as rock critic reviews. In terms of both resistance and compliance to these musical values,

Bourdieu's concept of cultural capital, and the link he shows between taste values and class, extends the notions of reading positions by exploring social categories and the subjective experience of aesthetic taste. As one of the main questions of the thesis is analysing the relationship between aesthetic values, aesthetic forms, and patriarchal power, Bourdieu's ideas are significantly relevant to understanding the way taste is stratified along various axis of social identity. Although Bourdieu was concerned with showing how class, in French society, is a central determinant in the experience and of cultural artefacts, his analysis can be made relevant in terms of gender. Bourdieu explains that a cultural knowledge of the codes of a text is essential for meaning-making:

A has meaning and interest only for someone who possesses the cultural competence, that is, the code, into which it is encoded. The conscious or unconscious implementation of explicit or implicit schemes of perception and appreciation which constitutes pictorial or musical culture is the hidden condition for recognizing the styles characteristic of a period, a school or an author, and, more generally, for the familiarity with the internal logic of works that aesthetic enjoyment presupposes. A beholder who lacks the specific code feels lost in a chaos of sounds and rhythms, colours and lines, without rhyme or reason (Bourdieu, 1984:2).

93 Bourdieu's ideas are useful for this thesis because he sets out a convincing study that characterises audiences in a sociological and constructionist way. He sees class as one of the sociological features in the construction of notions of taste and the objects, places, experiences these tastes are attached to. "Disputing the idea that some people have naturally 'good' taste whilst other people's cultural pursuits are naturally 'vulgar' in comparison, he focuses on the socially constructed character of all preferences, interpretations and value judgements"

(Moores, 1993:118). Most importantly these ideas demonstrate an understanding of readers and cultural objects through socially constructed values.

Conclusion

Subjectivity is a central focus of this thesis. In seeking to understand the construction of subjectivities such as the feminine, feminist and the musical performer, the subject is approached as transitory, contextual and contradictory. Furthermore the tools of analysis which have been outlined in this chapter (discourse, patriarchy power, agency) flow from such an approach to the subject. Through these concepts it has been argued that feminism must retain the category of women in a strategic manner, to continue to push for changes to inequalities within gender relations. This does not mean that we lose a sensitivity to difference, but rather that we approach an equality which encompasses difference, not as a value in itself, but in relation to those differences which express female experiences and challenge those differences negatively valued within a patriarchal world view. Women can thus be seen as a social category, cut through by other competing and contradictory social positions.

94 It has also been suggested that a feminist approach to the popular music text, and a feminist reading of female performance, cannot rely on essentialist notions of a female/feminine aesthetic. Again, a feminist reading of musical elements must take into account the reader, and the social context of musical meanings, and the way patriarchy may de-value female produced art through various criteria. It must also be aware that femininity, and being female, is not a universal or 'pure' experience outside of patriarchal society. Thus to look for a female aesthetic which reflects such authentic credentials is an impossible task:

...while we might isolate certain tendencies that could be part of a female aesthetic, I have found no specific language, style, or dynamic that every woman utilizes. Such tendencies depend on variables of culture and individual disposition and could be utilized by men. Moreover, women are not raised in "pure" female culture and will tend to express, at least in part, aspects of masculine culture that they have internalized (Citron, 1994:17).

The question of human agency and structural constraint has also been explored through exarnining the question of the active audience, as well as more abstract concerns about the 'nature' of power, and the possibility of social change.

Constraints acting on the female subject have been explored through the concept of patriarchy and the flexibility of the system to change, with other social forces, and shift from an emphasis on private patriarchal power to public. Yet, in mobilising a theory of the reader as a continually negotiated set of practices and positions it can be seen that patriarchy as a representational system can be resisted through reading positions which challenge and/or re- appropriate the dominant meanings. The following chapters identify some of the representational meanings which are available in some contemporary female musical performances.

95 CHAPTER THREE FEMININITY PART 1 - PATRIARCHAL POSITIONINGS

Introduction

This chapter gives an introduction to a number of femininities which are

represented within the music press. These feminine identities are considered

throughout the following chapters to argue that femininity is patriarchally

constructed as well as a subjective space for appropriation, negotiation and the

re-construction of the patriarchal feminine. The following analysis considers

femininity as a set of complementary, contradictory and negotiated subject

position constructed through discourses, to produce both positively and

negatively valued female identities. This chapter considers the mother, the

child, the femme fatale and the androgyne as significant feminine subject

positions within popular music culture today. These feminine positions have

emerged from my analysis of the textual representations of female performers,

as well as drawing on previousfeminist work which have pinpointed figures of

patriarchal femininity within film, music, television, and advertising (e.g. see

Tasker, 1998; Cranny-Francis 1992; Williamson, 1978, Whiteley, 1998).

Femininity: Subjectivities, Discourses and Divides

To give background to the question of femininity in popular female

performances, and their representation, this chapter begins with an

examination of the dichotomy between men and women within the ideological

and material divisions of labour in popular music. These divisions are

96 important in the way inequality, marginalisation and the de-valuation of the feminine have become naturalised. However, the theoretical conception of femininity, in the following analysis, comes out of poststructuralism which also challenges these dichotomous relationships.

The first issue to note is the 'real' material division of labour within musical genres, as the music industry reflects the unequal aesthetic valuation of the participation of men and women as performers. The feminine subject positions discussed in this thesis relate not just to the general representation of women in all types of popular/media culture, but also create an awareness of the way in which they function as specific discourses which represent female creativity and performance. To do this, it is important to understand the real and imagined differences between the feminine and the masculine in popular music as a site of production and consumption.

The label 'rock music' has traditionally maintained a masculine appearance through the domination of male musicians:

As a pop genre, rock is founded musically on the valorization of instrument playing, socially on the idealization of the musical group as a collectivity of male peers, a band of brothers, and culturally or ideologically on the conflation of the two (Clawson, 1993:235).

Although there are obviously women who participate in rock genres as performers there is nevertheless a generic segregation in popular music which can be most loosely described as a rock/pop divide and which relates to a sexual division of artistic labour.29 Although this divide also contains

29 As we will see later, the notion of an all female rock band is still very much represented as quite bizarre in the rock world, a rare phenomena which is consequently positioned as 'deserving' of media attention. This attention is reflected in the lack of female bands in the past who have been commercially successful. It has been rare to have an all female band, based on the traditional instrumentation of rock, and it was not until 1982 that an all-female band (The Go-Go's) had a number 1 album on the charts (Gaar, 1992:271). Rather, it has been much more common to see mixed gender rock bands in the 1990s, although these combinations are still in

97 and contradictions which disrupt the dichotomy, most popular and academic accounts recognise this divide as present, and at times problematic:

...for most of rock's history, women have never been full, chord- crunching, songwriting partners with men in real rock groups. The guys formed the Rolling Stones or Guns N' Roses and sung Under My Thumb and Back off Bitch; the woman become the Marveleftes or the Go-Go's and recorded party pop ditties (Farley, 1994:62).

This artistic division of labour in popular music performance reflects, to some extent, the domination of men within the music industry itself. Producers, managers, recording engineers, record management have all been dominated by men, while women are more likely to be in lower management and organisational positions, rather other behind-the-scenes 'creative roles' such as

A&R (), engineering or producing (O'Brien, 1995:392). In the public relations side of music women outnumber men, which has lead to a downgrading of the work because of its female dominated workforce. One of the suggested reasons for this domination is "...the perception that patience and understanding are traditionally viewed as 'female' traits" (Gaar, 1992:352-353).

The gender division of labour in the popular music industry is also reflected in the music press, where there is a presumption that rock criticism is the domain of the male aficionado. Lucy O'Brien, a rock journalist and author who has worked for New Musical Express and other music press, has said that even when women get into rock journalism they are relegated to short pieces and interviewing women. "Women are not considered heavyweight enough to comment on the top male acts of the day...In effect the music press is one of the most gender-conservative areas of the business" (O'Brien, 1995:422-423). Liz

Evans in her edited compilation of rock articles written by women, reinforces

O'Brien's inside analysis and argues that even though there has been a small the minority compared to all-male white rock bands even though it may be claimed that "Coed bands are creating some of the most interesting music around" (Farley, 1994:62).

98 number of women writing within 'serious' rock press, they have been ignored within rock writing anthologies (Evans, 1997:xxi).30

Occupational divisions and gendered marginalisations are also confirmed in the generic labels attached to musical performances. Like other occupational areas, it seems that when women dominate a certain field it often lowers the status of that kind of work. This can be seen in the genres of music that are generally labelled pop. In terms of female participation, genres such as light rock, disco, pop, dance, country etc have more female participation than other loosely labelled rock genres such as thrash, heavy metal, punk, reggae, rap etc.

Rock and authenticity are often collapsed as one and the same through a unifying conception of masculinity. As Mavis Bayton suggests, "The common- sense meaning of rock becomes 'male', while 'pop' is naturalised as 'female'.

Real men aren't pop, and women, real or otherwise, don't rock" (Bayton,

1997:52-53):

...authenticity in rock is something which, like pornography, one is suppose to know when one sees it. 'Rock' is not so much a sound or a particular style of playing music, but represents a degree of emotional honesty, liveness, musical straightforwardness, and other less tangible, largely subjective aspects. 'Pop' music is allegedly slick, prefabricated, and used for dancing, mooning over teen , and other 'feminine' or 'feminised' (Bayton, 1997:53).

This chapter explores the possible links and contradictions in this formula, mostly expressed in the popular critical texts, where femininity is considered subordinate to constructed masculine forms. The importance of tracing some of the feminine stereotypes produced through these discourses is critical in coming to terms with the way patriarchal discourses continue to function. They

This attitude can be seen in the way some male rock journalists write as if the rock journalist was a universal male occupation. For example, Marc Spitz, in Spin, had this to say about the breakup of Marilyn Mason and Rose McGowan "This, along with the recent breakup of Kid Rock and James King, makes us wonder of rock-star/model-actress couplings are forever doomed. If so, may we take this opportunity to suggest that model-actresses try dating rock journalists instead" (Spitz, 2001:40).

99 are also important in terms of revealing the negotiations and resistances to them by female musicians, their fans, and even changes in the music media's representations.

Femme Fatale/Whore

The femme fatale figure has long been the most criticised target for feminist analysis, as well as the most difficult to negotiate and resist, because it often centres on female sexuality through essentialist discourses. Anne Cranny-

Francis suggests that the femme fatale has been a constant feminine in modern texts of all kinds stating that, "The image of the provocative woman waiting/requiring correction is the basis of many popular images of female sexuality" (Cranny-Francis, 1992:129). The femme fatale archetype is particularly significant in the following analysis as she has become intertwined with the 'new' independent woman of the later part of the twentieth century

(Tasker, 1998:121). Defining the femme fatale character within popular film

Yvonne Tasker notes four particular aspects which constitute this persona, and which are a starting point from which to consider the female performers in this study:

First, her seductive sexuality. Second, the power and strength (over men) that this sexuality generates for the femme fatale. Third, the deceptions, disguises and confusion that surrounds her, producing her as an ambiguous figure for both the audience and the hero. Fourth, as a consequence the sense of woman as 'enigma'...(Tasker, 1998:120).

Madonna's early to mid musical career has been understood through a femme fatale narrative of dangerous and seductive female sexuality. She also embodies the ambiguity of the femme fatale figure that Tasker mentions. In fact,

Madonna has become both the most vilified and most praised of female music performers in the last two decades. Her career reflects the tensions within

100 feminist thought and practice, as well as exposing the difficulties in understanding her significance as a cultural text. Although it is debatable

whether Madonna is a feminist icon or a commercial opportunist, Douglas

Kellner points out that there is no reason why we cannot accept that there is a

contradiction in Madonna's meanings. He argues that Madonna represents a

challenge to the notion of a unified gendered identity, but that she also "...reinforces the norms of consumer society which offers the possibilities of a

new commodity 'self through consumption and the products of the fashion industry" (Kellner, 1995:263).31 This embracing of the commodification of the

star text can certainly be seen in Madonna fan talk, where she is admired for the

abundance and diversity of products connected to her performances as well as the iconic imagery within her music and videos. For her fans her multiple images, masquerades and commodified texts are an intrinsic part of their fandom.32 Yet in regard to the femme fatale position, such positive articulations of Madonna as star can be turned around by patriarchal discourses which

position Madonna as commercial whore. Her body becomes a reflection of her

inner moral identity which is constructed as shallow, manipulative, seeking fame and fortune through artifice and audience-pleasing performances. Shulz

et al (1993) have pointed out that Madonna's critics articulate their through a hatred that centres on Madonna's body:

Madonna's carnivalesque transgressions of gender and sexuality, the source of much pleasure for her fans, are extremely disturbing to her haters, and often this hate is focused on the body and expressed in a discourse about the body (Schulze, Barton White, and Brown, 1993:24).

61 However it should be noted that Kellner concentrates on the images that Madonna portrays and thus does not discuss how Madonna's musical identity and musical meanings are roduced. 12 Fo r example one fan states, "I love Madonna so much. She makes great merchandise, she's perpetually glamorous, every inch the superstar: whether the cone bra, monacle (sic), "dita" tooth, cowboy hat, acoustic guitar, drum machine, fingerless lace gloves, burning crosses, or a Pepsi can that she refuses to drink from, I love her and always will" (Madonna's Official Message Board, 16/1/2001).

101 The overlaying of female appearance and sexual morals has a long history via patriarchal discourses and fashion and symbols of beautification continue to be paralleled to a low morality for women or even more pervasively to the unserious nature of women's attempts to move into traditionally male public roles (Tseelon, 1995:17).33 On the Usenet group alt.fan.madonna, Madonna haters frequently use this forum as a way of starting flame wars by deriding

Madonna through morally which concentrates on her appearance:

...has anyone noticed how much eye make up she has been wearing lately- she looks like an old whore, but it is a good technique for drawing attention away from those wrinkles (Subject Re: Madonna on Fans, alt.fan.madonna, 1/5/95).34

This discourse of the feminine as whorish relates strongly to the way the female body is constructed as a symbol of commercialism. Madonna is put in her place by such comments which devalue her appearance and suggest that she can no longer physically mask her age. Paradoxically patriarchal discourses often use feminine beauty as a central measure of feminine validity and power, with

Madonna's age and her attempt to hide it being used as a symbol of her popular decline.35

56 In the music arena the visual image is an important part of the success and identity of a performer. For women this is a double burden because while patriarchy often offers success through adhering to normative femininity, in terms of criteria of beauty, this can also work against them because of its of commercialism and narcissism. This is further complicated by the patriarchal meanings of authentic musical performances which still hold sway in critical circles where, "Male musicians and rock critics have tended to define rock around notions of authenticity and seriousness which exclude music aimed at chart success, and/or aimed principally at young, female audiences...This attitude to pop music written and/or performed by women does not exist in a cultural vacuum; it is part of a system of persistent discrimination against cultural products by women or aimed at women as consumers" (Blake, 1993:18). Throughout this thesis internet discussions are only referenced through subject threads and dates. Individual email addresses of fans have not been given for privacy reasons. However, archives of several newsgroups discussed in this thesis are available online (see Appendix B). The bulk of the Madonna internet group analysis was done before the release of her successful 'come back' with the and Music albums. Thus there was a concern, at this time, that Madonna had run out of ideas, and was faltering in her ability to capture the popular interest of an audience.

102 Madonna's overt sexual images of herself, and the musical articulations of this sexualised persona, have provided obvious fodder for her fans and haters to make knowledge claims about Madonna's 'real' subjectivity. In many fan discussions time is spent making connections between the musical/extra- musical products and the discovery of the 'real' person, underneath the star persona. In Madonna's case her declarations of sexual exploration and liberation can be interpreted by her critics through a femme fatale discourse which consequently unproblematically situates Madonna herself as both physically and more abstractly a 'celebrity slut', using her body in exchange for both economic rewards and celebrity status. A typical comment posted within the provocative and heated 'flame wars' over Madonna's identity reads:

Madonna is a slut and she's proud if it. If blowing me or having sex with me or anyone on TV live would make her more famous than she is now she'd do it, the slut she is...Which isn't bad. Sometimes it's not so bad to be a slut if you are a rich little slut...Hey, would you be a slut for that kind of money. I'd like to hear an honest reply... (Subject, Re: What's wrong with trashing?, alt.fan.madonna, 18/5/95).

Here the commodification process is equated with the feminine subject of the whore or prostitute, selling her sexual favours not just for financial reward but to fulfil her greed for celebrity or public attention. Madonna is seen both as representing a capitalist discourse of individual greed as well as a patriarchal discourse of female sexuality. In responding to such criticism, Madonna's fans seek to defend her through alternative discourses which turn her sexual persona into a transgressive and powerful artistic strategy. For example, a reply to the internet criticism above negotiates an alternative or oppositional understanding of Madonna as a performer. Showing an awareness of the patriarchal forces behind the label 'slut' and the way language is used to label and marginalise the fan states:

103 Madonna has embraced the word slut...not because she thinks herself a shameful tramp, but because conventionally any woman who embraces her own physical sexuality is branded one. What you omit is that Madonna is not just after money. I realize that there are of you who still argue tirelessly that she is, and I can only point to the coherence of her message in a ten-year body of art work as proof that she also examines things like self-reliance, shades of difference between types of human relationships, and the narcissism hovering around romance. If Madonna thought that having sex on live television would arrest people's attention, provoke discussion about sexual mores, and get some more money for her business empire (gleefully bettering most of the world's male-run enterprises), yeah, she might do it. But I don't see how you can argue that it's reducible to sluttiness (Subject Re: What's wrong with trashing, alt.fan.madonna, 18/5/95).

The resistance of the femme fatale discourse by fans is evident in such statements. It is thus possible to see in many fan descriptions an alternative set of discourses, which counter the dominant discourses of patriarchy. This is reflected in other studies, like Barbara Bradby's examination of attitudes to Madonna. She found that there was an alternative discourse which emphasised Madonna's independence, as well as what she called a tart discourse (Bradby, 1994:90-91). Certainly the above fan exemplifies the deployment of counter cultural capital, possibly drawn from a higher education

in which critical reading strategies, and feminist ideas have been formally taught. This educational capital allows an argument to be mounted against

'common sense' discourses which articulate a conservative moral presentation of the female sexualised subject. These resistances have to be continually fought

to challenge the way patriarchy naturalises women into the femme fatale role. The very fact that Madonna fans bother to respond to such outrageous hate

posts suggests that they are aware of the damage such discourses can do to

Madonna's claims to artistic status.36

ib A quantification of the power of the femme fatale discourse to position readers can be seen in the research done by Wells et al who asked groups of men and women to describe various music personalities/images which appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine. Madonna was described overwhelmingly by both men and women as either a slut or sex object. More men than women used the label slut, women preferring the less morally loaded description "sex-object". Sixty two percent of all the male respondents labelled Madonna slut while overall

104 The reappropriation of Madonna's image to a patriarchal gaze can be found most prominently in the press surrounding her early records, movies and video clips. For example, a Rolling Stone review states of her early image - "Madonna's bare-bellied, fondle-my-bra image is strictly bimbo city, and of course it sells - this debut album was one of the year's longest-running hits"

(Loder, 1997:36). The combination of a 'wanton' female sexuality and her pop obviously disallowed any talk of artistic credibility. The climax to this discourse came with the release of her album Erotica and the release of her Sex book. The record, and the accompany videos and the book, were seen as a rather pathetic attempt at attention, with her Erotica album described as

"....softcore fluff..." (Remstein, 1999). In her exploration of both old and new images, the dominant reaction was morally conservative and/or artistically dismissive (e.g. Elder, 1993).

Madonna herself has been quoted as saying that she was unprepared for the criticisms of the Erotica album and Sex book, believing in a liberal view of the artist:

...my mistake was that I naively thought that everybody liked the same things I liked, and had the same sense of humor I had, and was turned on by the same things, and I was really creating in a vacuum. I was pushing the envelope with "Justify My Love" but when I put out Sex, that's when the big steel door came down on my head. It's like, you can push the envelope, but you can't open the envelope (Madonna quoted in Guccione, 1996:46).37

On one level, these admissions of failure by Madonna are attempts to normalise and correct her wayward femme fatale behaviour, by explaining her misguided

the figure was fifty five percent. Madonna, out of all the covers shown elicited the greatest agreement between all respondents as to what descriptor to use (Wells et al, 1988:8). 37 In the song 'Human Nature', from her album Bedtime Stories, (which came after the Erotica album and the Sex book), Madonna addresses this backlash when she sings "Did I say something wrong? Opps, I didn't know I couldn't talk about sex".

105 intentions and subsequent commercial failure. The reader is given the sense that Madonna has been punished by the public for her sexual displays, through lower album sales, public condemnation and media criticism. However, this reading of the patriarchal disciplining discourse, which dominated the media representations of Madonna, cannot ignore the way her fans have embraced her critical and commercial failures, related to her controversial persona, as part of why they are attracted to her:

I wouldn't exactly say Madonna "shaped" the generation, either. Though I have often argued that she is the most important political artist of the last 20 years, she differs sharply from other political/artistic icons of the past like Dylan and Lennon. Their political work often took an explicit stance and was designed to galvanize a movement while being artistic. Madonna's poltically (sic) engaged work (Erotica, Til Death Do Us Part, even Express Yourself) has often been more ambiguous, more about asking questions than providing answers. Rather than inspiring devotion from legion of fans, her work has inspired debate about crucial political and social topics

While I think most of this debate is spawned by the videos, at which she is a genius, her musical prowess is quite accomplished and is the true bait that hooks people into the debate, IMO (Subject Re: ?, [email protected] archives, 10/2/98).

Despite such protestation from fans, and Madonna herself, of the moral double standard central to the femme fatale discourse, it is still critically powerful in the music media. Madonna's re-emergence in the late 1990s with a hit album

Ray of Light suggests Madonna learnt from the experience of her past. With a new baby and a new image, sexuality, as an overt theme in her recordings, has become less of a concern. With these more recent critical successes her femme fatale, commercial whore role is still evident, but it is often understood in the past tense, making up a narrative of Madonna's career and subjectivity as one of maturation and growing complexity. This can certainly be seen in the review of her album Ray of Light with statements like, "From being the original Spice

Girl in the 1980s, when critics decried her brazen image and routinely

106 dismissed her music as disposable pop, Madonna has matured into a respected mainstream artist and business-woman" (Sinclair, 1998 Online). The celebrity whore, or her "...slave to fame..." (Morse, 1998 Online) status of the past, is again and again represented as transformed into a more authentic 'good' feminine subject, "...free from the narcissistic outer-shell of old..." (Moody,

2000).38 Such statements reflect a patriarchal narrative of Madonna moving from the sexual feminine to the nurturing/natural feminine, suggesting not only musical maturation but psychological /emotional growth through the experience of motherhood.

Another female performer who has been constructed through the femme fatale discourse is of Hole. Like Madonna, Love's construction as 'knowing whore' is contradictory and open to several readings. Unlike

Madonna she has moved from a post-punk image of uglification (see Eileraas, 1997), with an obvious message of the constraints for women in the commodification of femininity, to a glamorous, designer dressed rock star, and back again. She flirts between "...Love the derided duckling and Love the revamped goddess..." (Dieckmann, 1997:467) creating a huge media interest in her wake. Her relationship and marriage to , and her other relationships with prominent male performers, have cast her in a media narrative drawing on patriarchal discourses of the femme fatale embodied in the 'groupie' label.

The groupie is a specific form of the patriarchal whore in popular music and has been particularly prominent in male white rock. Here the female fan

30 The subject of sex is displaced, with a sigh of relief in many review comments, for an abstract spiritualism connected with her new found role: "She may have written the book on Sex, but in her first album since discovering motherhood, Madonna hardly even flirts with the topic...(The album should probably be stickered to warn off fans expecting the old breathy come-ons and lollipop sensuality)" (Dougherty, 1998 Online). In fact her "...onetime Material Girl..." status is in juxtaposition to her new status as musical innovator. It is worth noting that this relief is expressed by both male and female critics.

107 becomes the 'worst' kind of female, one who desires sex with the star. They are presented as both sexually manipulative and knowingly exploited by men.

Cheryl Cline gives the following critical definition of the term groupie:

Strictly speaking, a groupie is a person (a woman, usually), who 'chases after' rock stars, as my mother would say. But 'groupie is also used more or less synonymously with 'girl Rock fan', 'female journalist', and 'woman Rock musician'; it's used to mean anyone working in the music field who isn't actually a Rock musician; it's used as an all-purpose insult and a slur on one's professionalism; it's used as a cute term for 'hero worship'; and it's used interchangeably with 'fan' (Cline, 1992:77).

In Love's case, her individual relationships to other musical men, as well as her

re-appropriation and general use of the labels whore, slut, etc and the sexually

provocative (often self-loathing) portrayals of female sexuality and experience,

have all contributed to claims of celebrity ambition and her lack of real musical

talent. Like Madonna, various Usenet groups devoted to Hole, Courtney Love

and more generalised music sites, contain audience criticisms and anti-Love

comments which make very conservative moral judgements about her

behaviour as well as articulating suspicion as to her artistic skills. The hate

posts which appeared on the newsgroup alt.fan.courtney-love, at the time of

this analysis, made claims that Hole's success was related to Love's

appropriation of her ex-husband's, Kurt Cobain, musical ideas. One hater

exclaims, "HOLE is a shite Nirvana rip off. Ever here there first record? It's

complete shite!..." (Subject: Love is an old slag, alt.fan.courtney-love, 27/10/95).

Similarly to the Madonna examples, statements centred on Love's body and

appearance (such as the subject line which states "Love is an old slag") measure

her value as a feminine subject through her attractiveness, and a moralised code

of feminine sexuality.

The music press surrounding Love has either displayed a patriarchal moral

discourse, or has 'described' this moral narrative as part of representing her to

108 their readers. In the glossy Q Magazine an article entitled 'Hello Boys', supposedly a feature on Hole as a band, retells Love's femme fatale status in sensationalist tabloid fashion:

She's been called a liar, a slut, a gold-digger, a junkie, a vendettstress and, worst of all, a Teardrop Explodes groupie. Would the real Courtney Love, Nivarna's own Nancy Ono, please reveal herself? (Aizlewood, 1992:50).

This mythological story of the femme fatale, using male creativity and energy to her own ends, is seen in the history of rock and the history of Western art and popular music. For example, the above makes obvious comparisons between the public/media reaction to 's relationship with and

Courtney Loves own situation with Cobain. In a mock concern for Love the Q journalists proclaims, "Poor Courtney Love. She's known for two things: marrying Kurt Cobain, like Yoko married John, and taking heroin while pregnant, like Nancy Spungen would have done" (Aizlewood, 1992:50).39 In one Rolling Stone article Love is interviewed about her relationship with Cobain

(Fricke, 1994:59-60) to which she responds:

If Kurt were alive, it would be the same thing. If you don't think I knew what I was getting into when I married Kurt...I mean, the lack of credit I get. ...and Julia Cafritz...told me when me and Kurt got serious, "'s going to happen?"...And I was going: Yeah, I know what's going to happen. I don't give a fuck. I love this guy. My on a goddamn white horse. And I'm going to do it. I'm going to do both: be with him and do my thing (Love quoted in Fricke, 1994:58-59).

Although the above interviews seems to acknowledge the problem of female creative marginalisation, via Love's own words, her creative and romantic

°y The reference to Spungen, heroine addicted girlfriend of Sid Vicious, is significant on two levels. Firstly Love had tried out for the part of Nancy in the film Sid and Nancy. She was also reportedly a heroin user along with Cobain. But more importantly it positions Love as a tragic but marginal girlfriend in the stereotype of the 'rock chic' or groupie. In Jon 's book 's Dreaming he quotes several 'eye-witnesses' who present Spungen as the femme fatale figure who seduced Sid into heroin and into being her girlfriend - "She was a total junkie prostitute" (Childers quoted in Savage, 1991: 310), "Nancy came to specifically to get a Sex Pistol for a boyfriend....She gave Sid a habit and sex" (Barker quoted in Savage, 1991:312).

109 connection to Cobain was reinforced as his wife time and time again. For example, in one media article we are told "Hole became the object of major label attention towards the end of 1991, coinciding with Love's much publicised pairing up with Kurt Cobain" (Morton, 1992:5) suggesting that Love's relationship with Cobain gave her the success and fame she was looking for.40

Love's association as Cobain wife was made more sensational when Cobain committed suicide in April 1994 and prompted article titles in the music and popular press, concerning Courtney Love, such as "Life After Death" (Fricke,

1994) "The Bride Stripped Bare" (Marks, 1995) and "What Courtney Did with

Kurt" (Dickinson, 1996) and became known as "...infamously provocative, rock widow..." (Newcomb, 1995) reinforcing Love as Cobain's partner, even in death.

Love's positioning in relation to Cobain as a femme fatale figure, that is highly possessive, vain, explosive, dangerous and sexually powerful, can be put into a broader context of the feminisation of fandom. Fandom has traditionally been seen as passive adoration and/or emotional irrationality which links into the feminine stereotypes circulated as common-sense female traits, and female fandom in rock has and is still understood through the groupie figure. The groupie is transformed from the silly/teeny-bopper screamer into the scheming femme fatale. Yet in both versions the fan/groupie is of little consequence to the artistic ideas and the male creative process, although she may try to be.

Love's position as sexual exploiter of herself can be seen in a haters online post which claims that Love's acting career, portraying porn king Larry Flynt's girlfriend, is a reflection of her 'real' whorish character, being able to manipulate an audience, and individual men, through her body, pandering to an audience gaze (conceived of as male): u Also after Cobain's death various popular myths and gossip circulated, on-line and in the media, that Love was somehow involved in Cobain's death. These stories construct Love as the ultimate, deviant femme fatale character, driving the male hero to his death/ destruction as well as symbolising her inadequacies as a supportive female partner.

110 ...cl [Courtney Love] has ALWAYS been a master at acting. She has made a career out of duping people into believing she was what they wanted her to be. this role in PVLF [People vs Larry Flint] is like breathing to her. It was NO EFFORT for her at all. First she was the grieving widow (what a laugh!) MAN, did she get over THAT fast or what? Now she is living out her ULTIMATE fantasy....to be a movie star. She is a manipulator. She uses her body, every part or it to get what she wants. It works for her...(Subject Re: that "actress" courtney love, alt.fan.courtney-love, 30/12/96).

Here Love is situated as a femme fatale subject who is consequently defined through her inauthenticity. Yet there is a contradiction in this figure, as expressed in the above. Love is only being 'true' to herself by being inauthentic, manipulative and self-seeking. This femininity is deceptive and natural at the same time. However, this very role or subject position is clearly articulated as dishonest, with Love being seen to use her body in immoral and deceptive ways to gain an audience. The underlying meaning of sexualised femininity as a selfish masquerade connects with the way patriarchy has constructed discourses of humanism and essentialism to women for their own inequality and oppression. The femme fatale figure seems less than human in patriarchal representations where femininity is understood as a representation, a manipulation of the 'real' subject.

To conclude, the femininity of the femme fatale position is very much a two- edged sword. Both Madonna and Love, at various times in their careers, have been subjugated and constructed through it. In this discourse patriarchy constructs a morally unequal position for women. Yet feminism often seeks to appropriate the image of the sexually provocative woman to re-position women's pleasure as powerful. For example, Susan McClary reads Madonna's image in the video 'Open Your Heart' not solely as an object of the even though visually she takes on the trappings of a female erotic dancer in a

111 peep show. McClary makes a very important point in regards to Madonna's use of patriarchally loaded sexual images:

Still, the video is risky, because for all those who have reduced her to "a porn queen in heat," there she is: embodying that image to the max. Those features of the video that resist a reductive reading of this sort...can easily be overlooked. This is, of course, always the peril of attempting to deconstruct pornographic images: it becomes necessary to invoke the image in order to perform the deconstruction; but, once presented, the image is in fact there in all its glory (McClary, 1991:162).

The sexually active images of both Madonna and Love highlight the dominance of a moral double standard, a double standard that exist even in the midst of postmodern irony, as when Love sings in the song '', "I fake it so real I am beyond fake".

Mother

Unlike the femme fatale, the mother role is charged with positive, normalised feminine traits such as warmth, affection, care, emotional sensitivity and can be defined against more threatening feminine positions such as the sexually predatory femme fatale:

Complementing the (sexually provocative) image of femininity is that of the motherly woman, the loving, caring, nurturing woman who can ally masculine fears...She takes from the patriarchal man the burden of interpersonal engagement; her sphere is the emotional, the domestic. The patriarchal man delegates his emotional life to her; take care of it while he gets on with the real stuff of life in the public sphere of competition, exploitation, toughness, hardness and rapacity (Cranny- Francis, 1992:133).

The motherly woman also has had a history in the imagery of 60s and 70s rock in the earth mother who "...takes on the role as the provider, the forgiver, the

112 healer" (Whiteley, 1998:165). In terms of the female performers under analysis this position can be read on at least two levels. Firstly, there is the literal position of motherhood, made meaningful through the biographies of those performers who have had children. At the time of analysis five of the women studied were biological including Bjork, O'Connor, Lennox, Love, and

Madonna (and it has already been noted how Madonna's motherhood status has been represented as marking a change in her musical output as well as her character). Secondly, there is the metaphorical or symbolic level which connects women's behaviour with a generic/essential nurturing nature. Often these are collapsed together, with the biological or essentialist discourse of motherhood being normalised within these narratives of 'actual' motherhood.

In a patriarchal discourse motherhood normalises the female subject because it is seen as the ultimate experience of the feminine. This can be seen in the emphasis in interviews with performers about the way motherhood has effected them. In profiles of Madonna, Annie Lennox, and Sinead O'Connor their motherhood can be read as both a normalisation of their femininity and a re-working of the public image of the working woman. Madonna's identity in particular is represented as transformed from the "material girl" and sexual manipulator to an introspective womanhood. Quotes from Madonna have herself added to this narrative of transformation from bad to good woman, "I'm a much more forgiving person now. I'm sure my daughter has had a lot to do with it" (Madonna quoted in Hirshey, 1997a:74). She states in another interview, "My daughter's birth was like a rebirth for me" (Smith, 1998b:6).

Annie Lennox has also been normalised through her motherhood status. She is seen as the 'good' mother, self-sacrificing, attentive to her child's needs, and as emotionally and mentally more stable or healthy for the experience:

113 Since marrying Israeli film-maker Uri Fruchtmann in 1987, the once- rootless Lennox has given birth to daughters Lola, 4, and Tali, 2, and discovered the joys of domesticity. Says Joe Dyer, director of her latest video: "She likes being a very ordinary woman" (Smith, 1995 Online).

Lennox is not only normalised through motherhood, but through her conventional marriage to a professional male. Her relationship to men is normalised as heterosexual and celebrated as ordinary, juxtaposed with her more challenging androgynous and cross-dressing . Her withdrawal from the music scene is explained in terms of having a 'normal' family life and finding solace in the domestic. As another media profile explains, although she put out two solo albums in this period:

...her more constant focus was on her husband and two children. More fundamentally, she suspects, she went though a phase when she didn't "value" creativity enough because her memories of the music business circus were so painful (Sutcliff, 1999 Online).

In general, while these media accounts and confessions may provide an opportunity for some performers to be role models for a wider audience showing that women can be both professional and parent, these same

representations can also perpetuate the idea the women's natural role is the experience of biological motherhood, in a heterosexual relationship. Part of the problem is the continuing abstract and experiential split between the public and private, where motherhood is ideally situated in the 'private' sphere. This means that in reality motherhood still remains a marginal role in the working

institutions and work experiences at the performance end of the popular music industry. Lennox represents the good mother withdrawing from the media limelight, and toning down her androgyny, to rear her children.

This normalisation is negotiated and resisted through feminist and alternative discourses of motherhood. For example, although O'Connor is often

114 represented through patriarchal discourses of the 'good' mother, her

'unconventional' biography of young, single motherhood has often added to her controversial character.41 She has also taken motherhood as a theme and political issue in her musical work and extra-musical activities. Her own public confessions of child abuse at the hands of her own mother, her experiences of abortion, and her statements concerning the as a metaphorical parent who has twisted and undermined Irish national health, have put her at the centre of controversy in the music and general media. In fact her rebel status is one of her defining characteristics within the media.

In her musical work, especially in her lyrics, but also in her choice of musical accompaniment and vocal delivery, O'Connor has consistently brought motherhood into popular music. In 1994 she produced an album entitled

Universal Mother which confronted themes of the hatred as well as healing love of the mother /child relationship, one short song containing lyrics written and sung by her son Jake. She has also extended these 'real' micro relations to illustrate the British-Irish troubles. In her song 'Famine' she describes Ireland as a physically abused child. This positioning of herself as both mother and child, as well as examining motherhood as a site of both positive and negative relationships, has been labelled by as the exploration of "mother love" (Powers, 1997:379).

O'Connor has certainly extended the scope of pop music through her emphasis on motherhood as a powerful position which should not be ignored or marginalised as simply a private domestic relationship which has little to do with society as a whole. By making public her own personal difficulties as mother and daughter there are both positive and negative outcomes for a

41 More recent charges by the father of her second child that she was abusive to their daughter (Durchholz, 2000 Online), followed by a custody battle, have cast more doubt on O'Connor's 'normality' if not sanity.

115 feminist politics. O'Connor's confessional style both in interviews, her music, and her extra-musical activities have represented her as a 'mad', or at least eccentric and over-emotional figure, reflected in music press with descriptions such as, "Crazy Baldhead?" (Deevoy, 1993:76), "affable nut" (Shanahan, 2000

Online), "...goofy rebellious attitude (Violanti, 2000 Online), "...an anguished

seeker clawing out of deep emotional distress" (Moon, 2000 Online), and "...swamped by emotion" (Sandow, 19992 Online).

However, her public airing of 'the personal' can also be read as a challenge to the dichotomy of patriarchal thinking about motherhood. Although patriarchy

throws up representations to contain this disruption, O'Connor's mobilisation of a discourse of public 'mother love' still exists. In fact it is through the

aggressive, often vicious media and institutional attacks on O'Connor as a public identity that her threat to patriarchy is revealed. The rebel status of O'Connor as a political figure, as well as expressing a message of the destructive power of institutions, has made her more of an enemy than her

contemporary Madonna, who has used a pleasurable image of female sexuality. O'Connor's combining of radical outspoken themes, her shaved head image, as well as mobilising motherhood as a metaphor for healing, produces a difficult

set of images to appropriate completely. Anne Powers argues that it is telling that she has become such "...an embarrassment to the rock world while other,

sometimes equally reckless, are lauded for their daring,..." which

she claims "...exposes the secret code by which women still must abide: You can sin in this world, but it had better be a sin of lewdness, if not lust" (Powers, 1997:383).

Although there is an ambiguity and negotiation in O'Connor and Madonna's

representations as good mothers, Courtney Love has been mostly represented

through a 'bad' mother discourse. In this discourse the normality of

116 motherhood as a central role to a woman's life is juxtaposed by patriarchal moral judgements concerning the negligent mother (for example in terms of

love, security, and health). Love's pregnancy first came under scrutiny because

of her apparent rock lifestyle. In an infamous profile in Vanity Fair it was

suggested that she admitted taking drugs (heroin) during her pregnancy. This

one profile then became the basis of other music media reports. In an New

Musical Express piece the gossip was that "Love...allegedly joked with reporters

at Nirvana's June Irish shows that she was chain-smoking because she wanted

to have a small baby" (Morton, 1992:5). Love's femme fatale positioning is

clearly intertwined with this bad mother discourse, vanity and her own bodily

concerns positioned above her baby's health.

Despite whether Love actually said and did these things, these reports also

contain a discourse of motherhood which situates the domestic, the feminine,

and motherhood in opposition to public space, and rock music as male a

profession and a lifestyle. Motherhood is often seen as a 'natural' and personal

obstacle for women in competing with and creating rock success on the same

level as men. Thus another article, in Musician magazine, subtly situates Love's

pregnancy as the cause of her rock bands inactivity stating, "On the eve of its

major-label signing with DGC, the band has been temporarily derailed by line­

up changes and her decision to have a child" (Rosen, 1992:70). The role of

mother is designated as a problem for women in maintaining the work ethic of

the dedicated musician, embedded in the construction of the band as an all-

male community (Mercer-Taylor, 1998:187-188).42

42 Even for the solo singer/ the role of mother is seen as incompatible with the media attention given to the pop star. In an interview Lennox expressed the feeling that being a popular musical performer had a limited life for her as a mother of growing children because she did not what to embarrass her daughters in continuing to work in the music industry in a performing role (see Jackson, 1993:34). Youth as the ideal face of pop music is part of Lennox's difficulty with herself as practising pop singer.

117 Motherhood as both an actuality and as a set of more abstract characteristics provides a naturalised position from which some of these performers can speak

and escape a femme fatale past. The changes in Madonna and Love's images

from highly sexualised (in very different ways) to motherly and glamorous (in

Love's case to sophisticated fashion model and Madonna's mystical single

mother) has been part of a strategy to counteract the negativity and moral criticisms which have undermined any claim to authentic subjectivity. Also, in a more ambiguous way, as we have seen above, motherhood can be situated as

an individual, heterosexual experience which effects women and is outside the proper public world of popular music. The limitations which some female performers have felt in relation to their creative work and performing capacity

attest to the silent and conservative attitudes towards motherhood as the essential parenting role. It also offers a position which challenges the values of patriarchal institutions using the image of mother as a powerful force for

healing and destruction. Thus although the mother label has essentialist and

normalising effects, it can also be used to challenge the continuance of a common-sense understanding of a dichotomous public and private sphere.

Child/Girl

The representation of femininity as child-like has been a concern for feminist

media and literary studies for many years, with a history which stretches back to the early days of rock and roll and beyond, into other parallel musical forms

and styles. Part of this is due to the construction of rock within youth culture,

although it has also been broadly used in patriarchal portrayals of women as

docile, demure, pretty, emotional and irrational. Like motherhood, feminine

childishness is often constructed as a positive image for women to aspire to, in

opposition to a manipulative, consciously sexy image of the femme fatale:

118 She is the antithesis of the sassy, sexy, insolent woman, against whom she is often compared or played off in narratives. But the two are essentially two different manifestations of patriarchy; they need each other to function 'successfully' (Cranny-Francis, 1992:134).

Thus these 'good' little girl images of innocents are one side of a contradictory discourse of girlhood in contemporary Western society. In one of the most comprehensive and sensitive studies of the representation of girls within popular culture Valarie Walkerdine describes the representation of the little girl as both threatening and innocent, "...little virgins that might be whores, to be protected yet to be constantly alluring" (Walkerdine, 1997:171). The good girl is, like in the nursery rhymes, different to the boy in that she always "...follows the rules...[and] prefigures the nurturant mother figure, who uses her irrationality to safeguard rationality..." (Walkerdine, 1997:169). The more threatening 'bad' girl is corrupted by adult sexuality and is "...not of the nurturant kind, but the seductress, the unsanitizied whore to the good girl's virgin" (Walkerdine,

1997:169). These contradictions and characterisations are explored below as a way of describing the complexity of feminine subjectivity as well as the power of patriarchal discourses to make claims about femininity as a meaningful subject position.

In patriarchal terms, the good girl functions as a way to make a woman non- threatening. For female popular performers, the characterisation of them as girlish is used as a device to make musical material accessible through the characterisation of the female musician as playful, wacky, or demure and polite.

In the case of many of the positive representations of this position metaphors of childhood are used to describe the appearance, psychological character and emotional state of performers as varied as Tori Amos, Bjork, and P.J. Harvey.

For example, Amos' image as little girl is woven around a context of other childhood texts, such as the fairy tale, with one article labelling her as a "moon-

119 child" several times which is reinforced by the central image of Amos' eccentric fairy persona - pictured in a forest standing on a large open lily flower. These child representations are often linked to her eccentricity, in the same Rolling

Stone article being described as a "...cosmic cracker..." (Daly, 1998:111).43

However, these 'cute' images of a girlish and winsome personality can be used by another critic as a way of undercutting Amos' credibility as a 'real' person and as a performer. A critic reviewing Amos' music video collection Little

Earthquakes described Amos as "...baby-talking her way through sequences...and flouncing around in some truly atrocious videos" (Townsend, 1993:82). Another review of the same music video uses similar language to criticise part of Amos' work claims, "There is the video-styled thrift-shop clad pseudo-teen prodigy flouncing around in larky poses of foetal vulnerability and lolita-like skittishness" (Snow, 1993:118-119). The descriptions above use metaphors and words which position Tori Amos as a child, at times innocent but paradoxically also manipulative, alluring and mischievous.

Yet, Amos herself, as partial author of her music and image, has consciously drawn on issues and images relating to adolescent girlhood as a way of both creating a female identified community of experience as well as providing some spaces for critical re-appraisal of her American white religious up-bringing.

Often her lyrical and musical texts draw on childhood imagery to make some dark and disturbing comments. Her personas are often looking back at childhood experiences, or speaking directly from this position, address such themes as sexual repression, self-hatred and marginalisation. This

43 There are various examples of the representation of Amos as child-woman. An article about Tori Amos is peppered throughout with subheadings continually emphasising her as girl: "furious girl", "lucifer girl", "pudding girl". She is further characterised as an adolescent in the following description "She gives her 'yummy' smile, like a little girl with a bowl of pudding..." (Block, 1996:46). These kinds of examples suggest a positive use of the child/girl stereotype in that it creates a lovable' female persona which at the same time is not at odds with traditional good femininity which is pretty, simplistic, naive but also in some cases sexually alluring.

120 marginalisation is heard in '' and 'Precious Things', where

girlhood adolescence is understood as a harrowing experience. The song 'Girl' has a lyrical persona which clearly the lack of independence and individuality of women in society with the chorus, "She's been everybody else's girl/Maybe one day she'll be her own".

The positioning of a performers identity as childish is also present in the representations of Bjork with descriptions such as "...dizzy Arctic pixie..." (Fricke, 1997a:139), "...a stray elf..." (Bunbury, 1996:13), and "...indie pixie..."

(Thompson, 1997:66), surrounding her media persona. Also, there is a continual re-telling of her media representation as 'child-like' within the media itself, often perpetuating the discourse without any real deconstruction of it. As in Amos' case, the categorisation as fun, cute, innocent child can turn to patronisation and cynicism from the authoritative voice of the critic. In one of the most scathing reviews of her career Bjork's 'natural' girlish persona is savaged as complete commercial manipulation:

What Bjork is selling is a vision of her own personality as so unbridled, unfettered, uncorrupted that eccentricity and and exoticism tumble free despite herself. Now, as Bjork The Ingenuous Ice Elf Pixie- Virgin Glacier-Surfing Snow Princess Mama-Girly stands revealed as Businesswoman Bjork, The Freak With A Filofax, the whole thing begins to ring a little hollow. Obviously, self-invention is pop's lifeblood, but when it feels this cynical, this calculated... (Parkes, 1995:35).

More positive reviewers and profiles link her child status to her creativity and eccentricity as an artist. One journalists interview with Bjork presents her as not only as child-like, but alien. The below quote describes her physical movements as she talks to the interviewer:

Salient points are accompanied by a clockwise licking of lips and simultaneous rolling of the eyes, a gesture which, together with the delicate gesticulations of tiny hands and their baby-sized fingernails, reinforce her media representation as a visiting extra-terrestrial. Greetings,

121 Earthlings. Except this one wears black combat pants, neon Nikes and a Ren and Stimpy T-shirt (Cornwell, 1995:51).

In live reviews and interviews her child-like performance is emphasised over and over again (see Brown, 1997; Scribner, 1998; Walters, 1998), reflecting both a patriarchal discourse constructing Bjork as a acceptable but eccentric feminine figure, as well as providing a strategy for her to enjoy a musical subjectivity without an obviously manipulative sexualised persona. Although there are multiple readings of Bjork's girl image, including one of premeditative commercialism, Bjork's Icelandic ethnicity combined with her unconventional looks, means that this child-woman representation is understood as natural, an extension of her 'real' self.

While Bjork's descriptions as cute, eccentric and sweet have been with her since her career began as band member and singer of the Sugar Cubes, Madonna's use of the "little girl" image is both contrasted and intertwined with her femme fatale star persona. Madonna is often portrayed through journalists descriptions as child-like, with critics juxtaposing her sexy video and musical images with what they often suggest is the 'true', vulnerable and demure Madonna. In one profile she is described as a melding of the two opposites (adult/child) represented in the label "wise/child". In this interview the journalist compares

Madonna's actual physical presence, which he suggests is very small, with the size of her cultural impact. He says "...all that, from this little person" (Du

Noyer, 1994:111-112) suggesting both amazement that her feminine/child body could have supported the powerful effects her images have had, as well as undermining her success as somehow a fake/manipulation. The representation of Madonna as a flesh and blood body, and small in stature, is repeated in another profile where the journalist describes Madonna as physically "tiny":

122 ...a fact accentuated by the way she almost hides in the corner of the big couch, shoulders slumped, hands squeezed between her knees. This is nothing like the brash Madonna who rode into town last summer with her Girlie Show tour, shouting obscenities into the hallowed stands of the SCG and performing simulated sex with a troupe of half-naked dancers (Thomas, 1994:125).44

The child/woman dichotomy runs through many descriptions of very different female musicians.45 In these descriptions of child or girl-like qualities, we see journalistic accounts attempting to convince the reader that they are seeing the authentic, vulnerable woman as child, seemingly a more 'natural' state. These descriptions attempt to represent a the 'real' human being behind the star stripped of their surface publicity persona. Of course both men and women are subject to this type of representation as many male musicians and movie stars are portrayed as having boyish charm or an innocence. Nevertheless, the female star is more open to such descriptions, as the importance of 'good' femininity as attached to innocence, and a purity of sexual desire, has been forged more generally in current .

This construction of the little girl as the inner nature of femininity, however, has been challenged directly by Courtney Love's stage image of the early 1990s. Love's approach was to wear very feminine child-like dresses (baby doll dresses) yet at the same time present codes that stood in contrast to the frilly femininity she was obviously parodying. Courtney Love image has been called

"Kinderwhore", with one feminist commentator describing this persona as "...a

44 The physical smallness is juxtaposed, in a discourse of amazement, with the larger impact of Madonna's performance/work. This statement also represents her as vulnerable and thus defuses some of the threat of her stage performances. The journalist goes on to describe Madonna's appearance up-close as although still attractive, in comparison to her media self rather ordinary, "She is not bewitching, but is certainly beautiful...If you saw her on the street, you'd think she looks like a girl who looks a bit like Madonna" (Du Noyer, 1994a:lll-112). 45 Kate Bush and Kylie Minogue in particular have been represented as both 'little girls' as well as knowing, sexual manipulators. In an article entitled "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong" Kate Bush is described as "...having held the position of waif-like songstrel..." (Maconie, 1993a:98), while a Rolling Stone article entitled 'The Adventures of Miss Thing' (Wild, 1995b) repeats this tabloid style patronising tone.

123 fucked-up Lolita, innocence disturbed" (Raphael, 1995:xxii), commenting on, as well as re-appropriating, the sexualisation of the feminine child. In Love's case she is aware of her own construction, and even explains its political/social meanings which she views as a kind of limited resistance. Her 'dressing up' as a punk baby doll has its contradictions which she herself acknowledge in early interviews (see Fricke, 1994:62). Her attempt at irony, she acknowledges, has been interpreted as a gimmick. Love's punk Lolita strategy has also been represented as a conscious attack on the patriarchal gaze:

I would like to think - in my heart of hearts - that I'm changing some psychosexual aspects of rock music. Not that I'm so desirable. I didn't do the kinder-whore thing because I thought I was hot...When I started, it was a What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? thing. My angle was irony (Love quoted in Fricke, 1994:62).

Yet for Love these images parodying the sexualisation of women through a deconstruction of girlhood have given way to a more sophisticated and

.glamorous image. The issue of the female image is still a theme of her lyrics, but the focus is on fame, celebrity and the superficial values of Hollywood, and have been generalised to a much broader take on commodity culture. The message has also become more ambiguous. The theme of ugliness and self- hatred in relation to the female body has been shifted from focus, and become more easily appropriated into a commodified narrative of femininity. Her own physique has changed as well, a shift that does to some extent raise questions about the possibility for women challenging feminine stereotypes. For some critics, the change in image and sound represent the maturing outlook and artistic intent of the band while for others it represents a selling out. Whether it is a narrative of selling out or growing up, Love's change from child-whore to

Hollywood glamour model is written on her body and her body often stands in for musical changes in reviews:

124 From the chopped and channeled (sic) contours of her reworked face and torso to the sculpted sonic of her new album, Love is a celebrity makeover the likes of which could keep Oprah in business for many a month (Durchholz, 1999 Online).

The girl figure suggests several issues. Patriarchal discourses position the woman-girl subject as paradoxically powerful, through positioning girlhood as sexualised for a male gaze. However, this power is also used against women through individualising 'girlish' representations as a facet of the femme fatale.

Throughout Western visual culture girlhood is often sexualised as youthful beauty becomes increasingly represented through adolescent and teenage bodies. The importance of sexuality as a commodity in the music market is a powerful incentive for performers and media representations to draw on. The sexualisation of women through the use of child imagery and metaphors is clearly an issue that is both overt in media representations but at the same time hidden because of the essentialist discourses in which this sexualisation is couched.

Yet, there is another dimension to this representation which draws on the politics of appropriation, turning girlhood into an imagined community of solidarity, and/or freedom from a patriarchal sexualisation. This can be seen most recently in the examples of the tomboy figure, the eccentric but creative child-woman, the phenomenon of the riot grrrl movement and the success of the 'girl' groups like The Spice .Girls (these terms are discussed in the next chapter dealing with the labels representing feminism). The politics of appropriation and the re-representation of the girl subject from various different performers, and explored in the proceeding chapters, shows the strategic use of stereotypical images, and characteristics, to challenge traditional readings of girls as a simple consumer group, or as an unproblematic identity.

125 Androgyny and the Drag Performance

The last broad category of femininity considered is those images of sexual and gender ambiguity, encompassed in the androgynous or cross-dressing performance. The main difference from the mother, femme fatale, or child image, is that the androgynous or drag performer is represented as distanced from femininity and/or as an obvious masquerade of gender. Although I do not want to suggest that there are not elements of androgyny and drag to the previous feminine types, there are certain styles, images which are more obviously or publicly recognised as ambiguously gendered than others.

The issue of androgyny, drag and the public recognition of these categories is important to address, as these kinds of representations have been seen as a challenge to the sex/gender dichotomies embedded in Western essentialist and humanist of the self. For feminist theorists like Judith Butler, the dichotomy made between sex as biological state, and gender pertaining to cultural constructions of sex, needs to be challenged. One way of doing this is through constructing gender/sex as a performance. Butler draws on the concept of performance or "...the performative construction of gender..."

(1990:25) to think through an anti-humanist position:

As the effects of a subtle and politically enforced performativity gender is an "act", as it were, that is open to splittings, self-parody, self-criticism, and those hyperbolic exhibitions of "the natural" that in their very exaggeration, reveal its fundamentally phantasmatic status (Butler, 1990:147).

An androgynous persona is one way such a challenge of a sex/gender might take place, as the "...androgynous 'position' represents a denial, or a transgression, of the rigid gender divide, and as such implies a threat to our

126 given identity and to the system of social roles which define us" (Pacteau,

1986:63). Femininity as a patriarchal fixed position can be challenged through various androgynous and drag personas, yet the way these positions are understood within certain discourses can make such challenges less than successful.

Cultivating an image of is one strategy in avoiding an overtly feminine position which can be seen as potentially artistically damaging. For example, several female performers in the 1970s and 1980s took up a severe androgynous image, which was both fashionable and challenging (e.g. Annie

Lennox, Grace Jones). Others took the drag approach, appropriating male visual and sonic styles either in a spirit of parody or serious imitation (e.g.

Suzie Quatro, ). Before dealing with examples of specific performances we need to contextualise androgyny and cross-dressing within the recent history of popular music. Both men and women have used such images to shock and rebel against social norms. Yet we need to be clear as to the history, meanings and consequences for women performers as opposed to men.

It has been noted by various writers that men in rock have been dressing up since the 1970s in feminine and androgynous fashions and poses. From David

Bowie to , male rock stars have played with images of traditional femininity through various visual and musical practices. However we need to be careful how much of an alternative subjectivity such performances represent.

For example it has been illustrated that the androgyny of male performers has not necessarily meant a loosening of patriarchal heterosexual representations of male/female relations:

...like many a 's or activist's, Jagger's lissom frame appeared before us not only fully sexualized, but in marked distinction from - indeed, in virtual opposition to - that fully armoured body image of (especially) working-class masculinity whose "muscle tensions, posture, ...fell and texture" traditionally enforce both a hierarchical order within masculinity and the domination of women...the counterweight to

127 all Mick's dabbling in androgynous and/or feminine qualities and imagery was a taunting sexualized viciousness towards women in the songs themselves, from "Under My Thumb" to the notorious Black and album and slogan...(Pfiel, 1995:77-78).

Thus for men, 'dressing up' has not necessarily been a 'radical' element which reflected more feminine sentiments or equal gender power relations. In fact, such performances could be seen as a patriarchal appropriation of femininity.

The male performers who have taken up an androgynous or more feminine performance style can thus be positioned as both co-opting with the system as well as offering feminine signs of power through challenging "...the 'natural' exclusiveness of heterosexual male power..." (Walser, 1993:133).

We need to read women's strategies of cross-dressing and androgyny within the context of this male tradition, which has often built on patriarchal notions of the feminine as much as challenging them. For women, androgyny can be read as a way to accessing power denied to them by patriarchy. Annie Lennox has been quoted as saying, "Being in the middle place that's neither overtly male nor overtly female makes you threatening, it gives you power" (Lennox quoted in O'Brien, 1991:78). Lennox rose to mainstream fame and success through the adoption of male dress, short cropped hair and technologised/.

She suggests that at one point, her visual style was part of a conscious strategy to be taken seriously as a musical artist:

I choose to wear suits not because they were outlandish but because they were neutral...I'm happier to be compared with a man than a woman. In a funny way being neither male nor female widens your scope (Lennox quoted in O'Brien, 1991:77-78).

From the beginning of her musical career as part of the , Lennox has continually used cross-dressed images in her visual performance. From wearing tailored pin-striped suits with short cropped hair to dressing in

128 platinum wigs and sequins, she has explored both male and female drag. In doing so she has left space open for her audience to question femininity.46

However, in media representations there is a discourse of humanism which pervades and even undermines these challenges. Firstly, because of her androgyny she has been presented as more serious and more worthy of . This is because her androgyny signals maleness rather than simply neutrality. Secondly, her and exaggerated feminine portrayals are often juxtaposed with the 'real' Lennox who is understood as understated and

'normal', especially since her emergence as confirmed heterosexual and mother.

Lennox herself is quoted as saying that the title of her first solo album Diva was ironic because her real self is ordinary and not artificial the way many of her personas and musical texts portray her:

"It's ironic, it's humorous," says Annie Lennox of the title of her solo debut, Diva. "It's a joke about myself and about the situation that a female performer is out in." The less-than-glamorous photo inside the CD booklet, she adds, reveals "the real person behind the facade." Sure enough, Lennox, 37, is far from the steely androgyne one might expect from her stage persona; she is extremely charming, voluble, and perhaps a little nervous about being interviewed (Azerrad, 1992 Online).

Here her androgyny and visual play are understood as a mask covering her real essence as a feminine woman. She is portrayed as shy and "charming" while the androgyne image is positioned as the masculine, in-control persona. The power of her gender-neutral image is juxtaposed to the vulnerable woman in the interview. Here the artifice of the star (represented in the androgyne) is demarcated from the inner feminine core of her identity and outlook.

Androgyny is also used to position a female performer as different from other female performers, that is free from feminine stereotypes and artifice, and 'real'

46 For example, in her T Need a Man' video and song, Lennox plays a man impersonating a woman, she is made up in an exaggerated camp style that signals her status as a 'drag queen'. The hyperbole of the lyrics, delivery and the rock/blues genre add to the theme of mock sleaziness (see Middleton, 1995:480).

129 rather than manipulated. The case of P.J. Harvey introduces, with her gender neutrality in her early career, the tomboy figure, defined in terms of her distance from a glamorous femininity. We have already examined the subject position of the child, which is often central to the representations of mainstream femininity. The tomboy is another version of the feminine child, without the sexualised allure of the little girl. Women in music have at times grabbed onto such a positioning as a way of circumventing the de-valuing of their work as female subjects. Reynolds and Press (1995) and other writers (see O'Brien,

1991) have described the tomboy tradition through the image and subjectivity of performers like Patti Smith, , , and P.J. Harvey

(Reynolds and Press, 1995:236-247). The tomboy image can be used by women to understate femininity so as to gain access to certain genres and behaviours which are acceptable under the conditions of neutral representational codes.

Richard Dyer, examining female film stars within this stereotype, also suggests that the tomboy can be a non-threatening position because it is a version of the adolescent boy which "...proves no threat to a grown man..." (Dyer, 1979: 95).

P.J. Harvey's early image has often been portrayed through a tomboy persona, and is intertwined with her childhood and unconventional upbringing on a farm in the English countryside:

A self-described tomboy, Polly Jean was the only young girl in a village of 600 people, and she's often said that until she reached adolescence, she longed to be male (Hall, 1999 Online).

Harvey herself is quoted in interviews as saying that in her own childhood she was a tomboy and identified with the masculine "We used to play armies, never any girly games. Then when I was at secondary school I used to get told off for going in the girl's toilets and not wearing a tie 'cause I looked so much like a boy...I was devastated when I started growing breasts, it was horrible"

130 (Harvey quoted in Reynolds and Press, 1995:242). These narratives of her unconventional childhood and femininity are used to make sense of her artistic talent. With this background, rooted in a 'boyish' childhood, her emergence as the front-woman and guitarist in her own rock band is made understandable.

Her subsequent change from a 'neutral' visual performance to what some media commentators described as a drag act was also made positively meaningful within this previous history, with her change in image being described as a hyper femininity, sporting fake eye lashes, retro dresses, pant suits, and theatrical make-up. Her change to the overtly feminine was not seen as a 'sell-out' or commercially driven:

In concert, Harvey has stopped playing the guitar and has metamorphosed from a shy English tomboy dressed in basic black to a powerful strutter and poser decked out in false eyelashes, long glittering nails and beauty-queen outfits. From the stage she now seems like seduction in all its complexity and terror. But in person she remains unassuming, black-garbed in all its introspection and austerity (Strauss, 1995:62).

This representation, and many others, couched her hyper-feminine image as a performance of femininity which did not take away from the 'serious' unadorned, androgynous subjectivity, aligned with her artistic status. Another review around the same time echoes the above analysis:

Where her live performances were once rooted in the tradition of the blues-based , with Harvey confidently at the helm, she has now freed herself of all onstage guitar duties and become - with the aid of dramatic costuming, garish make-up and cartoon-proportioned false eyelashers - a compelling frontwoman with a mastery of stagecraft (Doyle, 1995:88).

Her transformation from neutral to feminine is seen as part of her musical

"stage-craft", that is it is understood as an artistic endeavour which is part of her act while her 'real' self remains the unadorned Harvey of her past. This juxtaposition between the performance and the 'real' artist is a significant

131 dichotomy made in media profiles of many of the female performers studied here. Harvey in particular is represented in such a way because of what is seen as the extremity of her musical personas or identities. For example, many of the personas represented in the lyrics of her songs speak of murder, violence, and sexual desire (often unfulfilled). The media reports concerning Harvey in the majority try to normalise her female subjectivity as well as differentiate her from the kinds of female portrayals in her music and visual performance.

Paradoxically Harvey is seen as a sophisticated artist through this juxtaposition between her 'normal' off-stage femininity, which is quite often understood as honorary male through her tomboy background, and her performance of an obviously drag femininity on stage.

Conclusion

The feminine stereotypes or positions I have outlined are not to be seen as static box-like categories, with many of the female acts studied here adopting two or more of these over their careers. However, they are useful to track the tensions which appear via the patriarchal dichotomies of masculine/feminine. The femme fatale is relevant in the representation of commodified music and female sexuality. Madonna and Loves' bodies are mobilised by critics and audiences as markers of commercial allure and signs of manipulated and artificial femininity. The mother, on the other hand is the good woman who is positioned as self-sacrificing and domestic, in opposition to the public institutions of patriarchal commerce and competition. She can also be a rebellious figure as O'Connor, by challenging mothering as a domesticated practice, has shown. The child/girl can be both a femme fatale type and a persona of freedom, creativity and star de-artifacing. Cross dressing and the position of the androgynous female is a powerful iconic figure of popular music which for women enables them to claim a gender neutrality. Discourses of

132 individuality (via humanism) and 'naturalness' (via essentialism) make many of these positions powerful for both feminism and patriarchy interests.

Certainly, as we have seen in regards to some of the androgynous and drag performances covered in this chapter, the rejection of femininity as a certain set of characteristics has been a way of being taken 'seriously'.

The positions covered in this chapter do not represent all possible patriarchal or counter models negotiated by fans and female performers. Yet, from these basic positions and discourses it is possible to explore both the constraints and the evolving identities and ambiguous positions that defy and challenge these categorical models. From this chapter onwards the analytical focus will turn to complexities and constraints of the intersections between femininity, feminism and musical status, with the next chapter considering the way language is deployed to describe musical meanings around the feminine subjectivity.

133 CHAPTER FOUR FEMININITY PART 2 - 'FEMININE' VOICES

Introduction

Femininity as an identity within popular music is not something which is simply reflected in musical roles and sounds. Popular music as a semiotic context negotiates and constructs both patriarchal and alternative femininities.

In extending the discussion of femininity to the representation of female musical voices, this chapter further considers the manifestation of various feminine subject positions and the way they are developed within the representations of a vocalists performance and sound career. Furthermore the feminine stereotypes discussed in the last chapter are further analysed through the 'diva' persona/label used by the media to represent the female singer. The diva is no longer simply an operatic figure, if she ever was, but is represented in all popular music genres and styles of singing carrying with her elements of various mythological, theatrical and literary female figures. However, as we will see, this label is negotiated through various discourses and female personas designating power, strength, independence, skill, charisma, creative expression; and narcissism, greed, exhibitionism, deadly sexuality, irrationality, and commercialism47.

4/ These designations come out of my own research into the media representations of the diva term as well as through feminist research such as Leonardo and Pope (1996) who have helped me to untangle the complexities of the term over several discourses including femininism and patriarchy. Characteristics like independence and strength represent a possible feminist reading of the diva while narcissism, exhibitionism and deadly sexuality point to a patriarchal representation.

134 The female vocalist is focused on in this chapter, firstly because it is one of the most common roles for women as popular performers, and secondly, because the singer's voice has become a context in the construction of gender identity, most notably in the ideological segregation of roles between the instrumentalist as male and the vocalist as female. Thirdly, the singer's voice is a point of identification and meaning-making for both fans and media reportage.

The discussion is also extended in this chapter to the representation of the electric guitar as a sound and instrument that has been constructed as a masculine musical position (the rock musician) and practice (aggressive expression). Therefore the guitar represents an interesting tension when women, as 'naturalised' feminine subjects, take up such an easily identifiable masculine symbol. The complexities of the feminine rock musician is explored by analysing the representations of the all-female rock band L7, which provides an example of the negotiation of the feminine through masculine rock authenticity.

Gender and Genre

Before we can confront the diva and the rock musician as complex and negotiated archetypes of the popular music landscape, we must also consider the material and ideological dichotomies which contribute to the segregation of feminine and masculine performances. In the previous chapter the gendered division of labour in popular music was introduced. This section continues to examine these divisions in relation to femininity and the ideological division of pop and rock music. Because this chapter focuses on the way language is used to interpret feminine musical elements and musical performances, such an analysis is significant to the rest of this thesis. As has already been argued, the

135 term pop has become associated with the feminine, including male performances, while rock has been equated with traditional masculine values and poses. In fact, the representation of gender stereotyped musical genres is reinforced in the very words or textual metaphors used to represent musical sounds. Words like 'hard' and 'rough' become associated with rock as a male sound, and domain, while pop sounds described, for example, as 'harmonious' and 'sweet' are associated with female musicality and/or effeminate male performers such as boy groups.

In terms of understanding the construction of the feminine subject within labels of rock and pop music, the example of the musical career of Hole, and the shift in their sound from an alternative grunge48 to a pop mainstream musical status illustrates the feminine /masculine dichotomy at the level of the representation of sound, genre and gender. The publicity and narrative surrounding their most recent album was that Hole, and Courtney Love in particular, had consciously wanted to make an album that was more studio produced and influenced by the pop music sounds of the past, with obvious layered harmonies and musical hooks (Perna, 1999b:51-52).49 The change was immediately highlighted in the various reviews, for example "The darkness is still there, but it's melted from anger to sadness; singing has elbowed aside Love's gasoline-gargle; amid a dusky pop-rock bittersweetness...has largely supplanted the growl of " (Marks, 1998:86). Here we see metaphors of a 'pretty' femininity creeping in to replace the urban dirty sounding masculinity of her rock-grunge past which is a repeated metaphorical device in most

48 Grunge has been one of the dominant sounds of rock, out of the U.S., in the 1990s. Any exact definition of the grunge sound is usually, like most definitions of genre, approximate and rather ambiguous. Many a definition requires specific popular cultural capital to make the definition understandable. For example, the Penguin Encyclopedia of Popular Music describes grunge as "...'60s garage fuzz filtered through '70s punk anger and '80s self-awareness with a timeless heavy metal -of-sludge acoustics" (Clarke, 1998:525). 49 Many reviews and interviews stressed that Hole's new sound fitted into a L.A. rock sound, "Musically, Celebrity Skin embraces LA.'s rich rock history - from and to the Eagles and " (Perna, 1999b:52).

136 reviews of this album. In a review for Mojo the production sound values on the album are referred to as beautification of their earlier raw sound, a process that is related to commercialism and indirectly a narcissistic femininity:

Hole's third outing bears the hallmarks of deliberation - after over a year in post-production, it's polished to perfection. It's also far from immediate. There are no fangs dripping blood here...nothing that makes your hair stand on end...(Brown, 1998:112)

The genre of the horror movie is deployed as a visual metaphor for rebellion and the animalistic, aggressive and spontaneous theatre of rock. On the other hand, the production values and commercialism of the record are associated with metaphors of feminine beautification. This representational juxtaposition between rock and pop and the characterisation of sound elements as feminine is repeated again and again in reviews and interviews concerning the Celebrity

Skin album.

Certainly Love's voice on this album is heard as an attempt at pop singing, a vocal sound which is compared to her more identifiable rock voice of her past,

Hole's past sound being described as "...howling confrontation...loud, ugly and deliberately shocking" (Kane, n.d. Online). Love's voice is described in opposition to this former 'ugly' sound, "Love's once-ravaged croak is tamed into a smooth and pitch-conscious croon on songs like '' and

'Malibu'" (Durchholz, 1999 Online). The crooner is a label for a singing style exemplified in the early white pop stars of the 1940s and 1950s, including male and female singers such as , , and .

Although this reference to her crooning style relates to the '' sound of the white pop singer, and the historical commercial song writing of

Tin Pan Alley and the , it also can connote a white Western defined skill of singing, that is true to pitch, clear lyrical diction and a 'clean'

137 vocal timbre.50 In fact it was reported in a profile of the production of the new album that "On the advice of friend and Smashing Pumpkin ,...,

Love looked to a stack of Frank Sinatra records to better her vocal phrasing"

(Rayner, 1998 Online). Thus Love's singing represented as crooning is a complex comparison which carries with it several discourses including romance, technical skill and pop commercialism.

The references to Celebrity Skin as a pop album are also made meaningful through the construction of harmonious melody lines and backing vocals. The multi-layered voices on one of the songs ' Tonight', on Celebrity Skin, are described as "sugar-pop choruses". This does not necessarily mean that the critic is devaluing the album, but rather that the critic describes sounds that can be interpreted in a gender dichotomy. The reference here to music as candy, implying that it is easily consumed, brings to mind broader understandings of the feminine as attractive and entertaining, but distracting. Again, this is a very subtle feminisation of sound, but if we read this line in the context of rock journalism in general, and rock and pop history, the divisions between genres based on gender become clearer. This can be more plainly seen in another critic's appraisal of the song 'Heaven Tonight' which states "...her Bangles-style song for Frances Bean, is the least moving of all" (Brown, 1998:112).51 In this review the pop sound is related directly to an all-girl pop band of the 1980s, which, in this critics opinion, exemplifies commercial pop at its worst.52

50 was the "Nickname for the popular song writing and sheet-music publishing industry centred in New York from the 1890s to the 1950s" (Hitchcock, n.d. Online). In the early 1960s the Brill Building was a place in New York were songwriters wrote for various teenage marketed acts. Both Tin Pan Alley and the Brill Building are associated with the commercial production of songs, with a formalised mass market approach. ^ Frances Bean is Courtney Love's daughter. ^2 This reference to as a metaphor for over-produced pop is also made in another review claiming that the producer "...polishes the songs until they sound too much like something from The Bangles" (Mehle, 1998 Online).

138 The feminisation of pop, through feminine imagery and intertextualities, draws on other genres and systems of signification including film, television and popular fiction. These are often appropriated to make sense of musical styles

and elements. For example, the genres of the gothic novel and the horror film

are drawn on to make meaning of the music on Tori Amos' album .

Perversely dramatic, intensely pitched, both artists [Tori Amos and Trent Reznor] squeeze their technically overripe Gothic imaginations into the tight bodice of pop, and Boys for Pele is just bursting at the seams (Francis, 1996:109)

The use of gothic as a genre of classification is significant in drawing a

particular feminine positioning from Amos as a performer. The bodice imagery

makes a intertextual reference to the historical settings of gothic literature, as

well as to the female protagonist. It is also significant in that it alludes to the

sexualisation of the female form and its 'manipulation' into the hour-glass form

in Victorian dress. It is both an image of repression and sexual desire. As a

metaphor for pop, we see again how the feminine as a sexual object is a

standard symbol of pop commercialism. The bodice image connotes constraint,

but also gives recognisable form to Amos' creativity. The fact that she is

"...bursting at the seams" alludes to both her over-dramatic tendencies, and her

creative potential which (although situated within her patriarchally sexualised

body) exists outside of a recognisable formula. It is also important to note that

this reviewer is talking not only of Tori Amos' music but of the male

musician/performer Trent Reznor from the band Nine Inch Nails. Thus it is not

my intention to link female performers solely with feminine metaphors of

sound, rather it is recognised that both men and women are subjugated to both

feminine and masculine representations. It is the values placed on such

performances that need to be deconstructed. Of course the feminisation of

certain musical sounds and performances does not have to be read in a negative

139 light, but the persistence of these gendered dichotomies for making meaning out of musical texts needs to be considered in terms of gender power relations.

Femininity and Vocality - Divas and Discourse

The domain of pop has been situated as representing an ideological space for women, as well as providing feminine subject with a public image and voice

(both literally and figuratively). The role of the vocalist continues to be the major performance role for women within pop and rock.53 Embracing the role of singer has allowed women to participate in popular music, and as such has become a vital way of understanding the power relations of gender within the representations of women as performers. The female popular singer is also significant in the way she acts as a point of identification for her audience, through emotional and critical engagements with her voice. It was observed that fans most of the performers analysed, like O'Connor, Amos, Lennox, often discussed voice quality and emotional content in very specific ways. An

O'Connor fan, for example, tries to convey the emotional impact of one song by pointing out the feelings that her voice conveys:

A autobiographical song! ! It is so delicate (like when she says "God I Love you") and then it's so hoarse (like during "I'd Kill a dragon for you & die!") I hate listening to this when others are around, because it is so personal!! (Subject: New Topic...Review, [email protected], 25/4/94).

Like other bodily practices, such as posture and dress, the voice is a place were identity can be positioned. However, it is a social, not a biological model of the voice which is used in this analysis. The voice is not simply a fixed/biological

Although the singer as a role has been significant for male performers, within many different genres and performance styles, I believe that the singer has been significant for women as the main role which has characterised their commercial and artistic representations as performers.

140 channel through which communication occurs, rather the voice is the site of the performance of sound which gives meaning to the non-sonic meanings of language. Furthermore, a voice is socially performed and changed through context and individual intention:

It would be surprising if people did not use their voice to project a culturally desirable image. Other parts of the human body which have been endowed with social significance are manipulated, groomed or decorated before being presented in public. We know that voices are socially significant, we know humans have the capacity to alter their voice; it would be strange indeed if the voice was not subject to socially motivated adaptions (Graddol and Swann, 1989:26-27).

However, the common-sense understanding of the voice is still very much tied to a biological model. Singing is distinct from other musical instruments in that it seems inseparable from the body and thus has often been represented as expressing the most essential emotions in . The human voice is often a metaphor for the internal subjective psychological world of the individual, and the experience of hearing a singers voice is often described as a physical and emotional one, unmediated by the social. For example, one fan describes the impact of Annie Lennox's voice as a physical touch, "Annie's singing always touches me with the same kind of intensity as Piaf's (Subject, Re:

Madonna and Annie, [email protected], 7/2/99). These reactions are recognisable, not simply as a fan eccentricity of emotion, but as the emotional communication of musical voices. Yet a problem arises when values of objectivity and subjectivity are attributed to musical sounds, dividing them into the irrational, the real and the fake, the masculine and the feminine.

Apart from the general importance of the singer's voice as a medium of communication, and identification, is the way the voice has become associated with womens' role in music. The division of labour in rock positions men as musicians, that is instrumentalists, while women often feel more comfortable

141 becoming the singer (see Bayton, 1998). Thus the voice in rock, and especially pop music, has been de-skilled by patriarchal discourses which undermine women's traditional position as singer, in bands and as solo performers. The dominance of women in the role of the singer can be partly seen as an outcome of the essentialising discourses which conceive of the voice as biologically fixed and natural. Even when women are represented as possessing 'genuine' musical voices, their position can be devalued when their talent is positioned below roles such as composer, instrumentalist and/or producer.54 They become 'natural' female interpretations of male creativity, with the masculine being

seen as the mind behind the physical manifestation of art (literally manifested

in terms of the singers throat and larynx). Combined with a pop/rock dichotomy, the pop vocalist is able to be interpreted through feminine characteristics, "...as something decorative and wistful, secret and available, addressed, by its very nature, to men" (Frith, 1988:155).

Many of the album, concert and video reviews in the popular music press use

language which represents the voice as natural and completely outside the realm of work and social practices. The singer's voice becomes a way of

naturalising femininity as an essential state of being. For example, Bjork's voice is represented as "godsent" (Johnston, 1996:90) and "a force of nature" (Gardner, 1993:65). In a description of Bjork first solo album, Debut, the central focus is on

her voice as the overwhelming musical presence/identity on the album:

...it [the album Debut] is characterised by the eerie splendour of that voice; a voice which echoes the alien environment of her native country; all misshapen landscape, strange sulphuric eruptions and unnatural beauty (Mair, 1993:29).

b4 As we shall see in the Western musical tradition the composer has been seen as the main musical shaper.

142 Not only is her vocal sound central to identifying Bjork as a musical persona, it is also metaphorically transformed into the very landscape of Iceland. Although not obviously articulated, the naturalisation of Bjork's voice is a normalisation of Bjork as eccentric persona through linking the natural world to her 'strange' vocality, and consequently normalising this otherness as part of her femininity.

This naturalness is positioned through Bjork's representation as an uncultivated child, while her voice transcends the social in such descriptions as: "...that voice, an alien screech that coughed up puffin feathers, cracked, screeched and soared like nothing you'd heard before" (Dee, 1993 Online). Her singing is described over and over again as a natural spontaneous activity, representing, or literally embodying, a "...raw naturalism..." (Hunter, 1997:135). It is not just femininity which is constructed through the nature metaphors of Bjork's performance, it is also her ethnicity. Her Icelandic identity is constituted through an understanding of Iceland as a country defined by nature.55

This discourse of the natural voice is played out in different ways, in different contexts, through dichotomies such as black/white vocality, pop/rock genres, feminine /masculine aesthetic, body/mind creativity, and live/recorded performance. Thus the devaluation of the role as the singer, compared to other creative positions, such as the writer or producer, are negotiated through these competing criteria of evaluation. Patriarchal discourses have constructed female musicality as meaning particular things:

The female voice in Anglo-American pop has usually stood for intimacy and artlessness - this is the link which has given women access to pop...We hear women as better able than men to articulate emotion because femininity is defined in emotional terms. The public world is

Kate Augestad's analysis of Norwegian singer Sissel Kyrkjebo parallel's Bjork's positioning as ethnic other as well as naturalised feminine. "Since she is a Norwegian performer, the quality of nature is increasingly important because nature is one of the most important and basic aspects in what constitutes 'Norwegianness'. Also, women are expected to be natural. In the Western logocentric binary way of thinking, the notion of women is coupled with nature more than men. The obvious uncultivated quality of her voice contributes to this notion, reinforcing and making it seem to be a spontaneous and natural voice" (Augestad, 1995:7).

143 masculine and there is no agreement about how public, unemotional women should sound...By the same token, the intimate male voice is unmasculine, unnatural (Frith, 1988:155).

In understanding the construction of femininity as a musical text Frith touches on several major points that can be considered in relation not only to the sound of a voice, but the expectations of that role in the public domain. Femininity as a vocal performance centres around discourses of appropriate gendered emotions, essentialism (ie. voice as body part), and authenticity (truthfulness).

The exploration and deconstruction of the diva position, applicable to most of the successful female solo performers covered in this thesis, illustrates the contradictions, weaknesses and continuing domination of patriarchal femininity in representing the popular female singer.

Divas - Feminine Excess, Feminine Strength

In concentrating on the vocality of female popular music performance, the identity of the diva becomes an important persona to analyse and deconstruct.

Throughout the analysis of the media and fan material for this thesis this particular aspect of female musical identity was used extensively.56 The diva is a contradictory figure, which designates feminine vocal power as well as psychological weakness. Susan J Leonardi and Rebecca Pope make clear that there are at least two traditions in the construction of the diva. Firstly there is a masculinist representation which constructs the diva "...as siren or vessel or some combination of both; as corrupt, monstrously selfish, ruthlessly competitive; as destructive and deadly..." (1996:13). However, Leonardi and

Pope also recognise a counter discourse to this tradition (1996:13), suggesting

56 The label was often used in descriptions and headlines of singers as diverse as Kylie Minogue, P.J. Harvey, and Tori Amos. Thus an exploration of the term and the way it is used in relation to different performers and contexts is relevant and significant.

144 that these counter discourses have touched on the female voice as both a musical instrument and a political instrument. The female voice in these counterdiscourses "...becomes...a metaphor of and vehicle for female empowerment both on stage and off..." (Leonardi and Pope, 1996:18):

...while masculinist discourse is preoccupied with what the diva and her voice do to men, the counterdiscourse is concerned with what the diva does for women. The diva's voice is a political force. It asserts equality and earns authority in the public, masculine world (one reason that, of course, masculine discourse must diminish it, other it, confine it, label it and the woman who possesses and wields it as "unnatural" or "demented"). It also serves to connect the diva with other women (Leonardi and Pope, 1996:19).

In exploring the positioning of the feminine voice through identities such as the femme fatale, child, mother, and androgyne, the contradictions of the diva both complicate and illuminate the way in which the feminine is constructed by patriarchal and counter discourses.

One characteristic which captures the stereotype of the diva is emotional excess.

The demented, mad, or simply eccentric behaviour or character of some female performers is expressed through constructing her as a diva, or having diva

status. In terms of vocal sound, a demented or mad femininity is often

expressed through large vocal ranges, abrupt pitch movement, loud volume (or extreme movements between loud and soft), and the prominent use of vibrato.

The way such a voice is valued, however, can range from being understood as

skilled and emotionally charged (eccentric), to being seen as over-emotional,

lacking a sense of creative control and rationality.

In terms of the negative evaluation of the 'demented' diva's voice, Alanis

Morissette has had both overt and covert critics. Although Morissettes' voice is

the centre of both praise and criticisms, these differing approaches are usually

145 centred around the issue of control. In a negative light, Morissette's voice is often understood as hysterical, grating, sonically annoying and over-dramatic.

Critics often hear a loss of control in her voice which is de-valued as over- emotional rather than as appropriately expressive. In fact her voice is seen, in these negatives representations, as manipulative and commercial. In her world­ wide hit '' these representational vocal elements can be heard. In her vocal timbre and movement from note to note, her delivery constructs a sense of emotional turmoil. Morissette's voice is tense and loud, and her use of a yodel technique of voice breaking, that is breaking repeatedly from a lower note to a considerably higher one, gives the lyrics a sound context of explosive anger (energy) and 'irrationality'. As van Leeuwen notes, "The higher the pitch level, the greater the effort needed, the more the voice is, literally and figuratively, 'keyed up'" (van Leeuwen, 1999:107). Also the rising pitch of the melody in the chorus connotes an active and highly emotional state, suggesting a public display of female emotional rage, in comparison to the lower, tense, descending voice of the verses. The song as a whole has a large pitch range which again may relate to a meaning of over-emotionalism.

Morissette's second follow up album to the hugely successful was reviewed by many professional critics as emotionally overblown. The lyrical focus on personal emotional states, not withstanding the vocalisation of them, was too much for some critics. This 'over-personalisation' is connected to soap opera (shallow commercial drama) and opera as a dramatic form that is excessive and theatrical. The examination of Morissette's performance through a high/low cultural critique is clear in many reviews:

The lyrics pile up without rhyme, reason or scansion and the resultant confusion of Oprah and operatics makes a confessional newspaper column seem like a sonnet (Barber, 1999 Online).

146 Morissette's themes of self-analysis have even lead positive critics to worry at her direction, seemingly uncomfortable with Morissette's 'personalised' lyrics:

The significant problem with the lyrics is twofold: there are just too many of them, a daunting welter of inner psychoses that weighs down a fine tune like The Couch, and too many employ repetitive structures that suggest an exercise at group therapy ('Okay, I'd like you all to fill a side of A4 with why you hate your room-mate.') (Maconie, n.d. Online).

Maconie draws on Sylvia Plath as a tongue-in-cheek comparison with

Morissette stating, "Pretty much all bright young women go through the Sylvia

Plath phase but few become multi-millionairesses on the strength of it"

(Maconie, n.d. Online). Plath as the most famous icon of feminine artistic madness is clearly used to suggest Morissette's musical meanings and subjectivity.

In a more critical vein, these illusions of madness are used to undermine

Morissette's music as rather silly, immature, and . In fact the following critic suggests that Morissette is pandering to her audience of equally deluded individuals, described as the "Alanis Army" (Freedom, n.d. Online):

If the similarly personal and angry songs in her smash U.S. debut, Jagged Little Pill, sounded like therapeutic entries from a teen diary set to music, then the logical next step was to put Morissette on the proverbial musical psychiatrist's couch, were she'd be able to speak freely - and, yes, forever - about whatever was on her mind (Freedom, n.d. Online)

This review combines childishness with self-delusion, and introduces the fear of the talkative woman. Has Morissette said too much for her own good? Often this sentiment is felt in the patronising tone of similar digs at her naive rage:

Morissette, whose painfully plain spoken lyrics often read like letters or self-help exercises recommended by a psychotherapist, tried hard on Saturday, the first show of a scheduled two-nighter, to build some mystery into her baldly declarative songs (Boehm, 1999 Online).

147 In a live performance her physical movements are described by some critics as rather uncoordinated and over-played, with both her voice and body movements seen as excessive: "Her delivery was often accompanied by a ridiculous physical overstatement" (Meyer, 1996 Online). In another she is described "Dressed in her signature Indian silks, Morissette ranted, wailed and flailed, but she often seemed unfocused" (Tayler, 1999 Online). This last quote brings in another theme which adds to understanding the construction of

Morissette as a emotive but charismatic performer - the theme of spirituality.

Along with the illusions to psychotherapy in her second album, Morissette touches on religion and mysticism. This is viewed in media representations with suspicion, but is nevertheless used by both negative and more ambiguous

profiles to explain the relationship of the audience to her:

Alanis concerts became nearly mystical events where the audience - primarily females in their teens and early twenties - would devoutly mouth every word to every song in perfect sync with their idol's emotive vocal ululations (Perna, 1999a:44).

Yet the figure of the diva also falls into a common-sense discourse that

legitimises the 'abnormal' behaviour, image, texts as normal within the artistic

temperament. This can be seen in the representations of Sinead O'Connor. Her

extra-musical controversies are often forgiven or put aside because of her

singing voice. The diva role often frames O'Connor's persona as difficult and

transgressive but ultimately musically rewarding. Her "..emotional rawness..."

(Edwards, 2000 Online) can be seen as an asset in her singing, however her

extra-musical transgressions are less easily appropriated info an appropriate

feminine subject. The label "rebel diva" (Raynor, 2000 Online) sums up

O'Connor's position, shifting from emotionally engaging singing with

descriptions of her voice as "soulful" (Packer, 2000 Online) "soul-baring"

(Morse, 2000 Online) "otherwordly" (Anderson, 2000 Online) and "fervently

148 impassioned" (Joyce, 1994 Online), to her general persona with a "...sometimes goofy rebellious attitude" (Violanti, 2000 Online). Her extra-musical behaviour, and her apparent 'ignorance' of feminine norms can be tolerated because of her musical skill as author and singer.

O'Connor's personal biography of broken heterosexual relationships, child

abuse, a suicide attempt, and her other more politically obvious challenges,

have added to her persona of eccentric misguided rebel. Media accounts often voice concern and paternalism rather than hate or obvious contempt. In the

Irish Times Kevin Courtney almost pleads for the public to give O'Connor

another chance with the release of .

We have kicked and spat at rock's for so long now that our scorn is becoming gratuitous it's time to stop the abuse and let this small, lonely but still lovely voice speak loud and clear once more (Courtney, 1994 Online).

Ultimately O'Connor's attempts at an extra-musical public voice are portrayed

as destructive to her as a person, her weak, vulnerable feminine body incapable of resisting the vicious media onslaught. Her diva arrogance silenced literally

and figuratively in the withdrawal of O'Connor for many years from the music scene. Her confessional voice as singer is seen as therapy for her, but also, at least for some critics, a unique opportunity for the listener to hear 'real'

emotions. O'Connor's voice, although often portrayed as emotionally excessive

and herself ultimately a victim of her own making, can be authenticated

through a feminine positioning of private confessions.

Like the demented diva, the diva as femme fatale is another representational

position for the female singer, which is played out around the singer's voice

and life, which can be obviously linked or subsumed under the diva mantle.

The femme fatale diva has a history that goes back to the narrative of the siren

149 retold from classical Greek mythology to today, through various forms and contexts. Dunn and Jones note that the narrative of the siren represents one of the earliest representations of women who possess "...seductive but dangerous vocality..." (Dunn and Jones, 1994:3). Thus the femme fatale stereotype of the last chapter relates in a significant way to the construction of the female vocalist and the meanings made regarding feminine sexuality. This seductiveness is regularly positioned within a discourse which represents pop in opposition to the rock voice. Like the patriarchal definitions of the diva, pop music has been associated with the world of ephemeral fashion and like the diva, pop carries with it characteristics of one-dimensionality, illusion and changeability. By extension the pop feminine voice is heard as part of a system of commercial production which is manipulated and pre-meditated.

The sound of the femme fatale voice takes several different forms. Shepherd suggests that the voice as sex-object takes on the head sounds of a masculine world:

...the transition from woman the nurturer to woman the sex object represents a shift, physiologically coded, from the 'feminine heart' to the 'masculine head', with its stress on a cerebral, intellectual, controlled view of the world (Shepherd, 1991:168).

This voice is made meaningful through its difference to an over-emotional nurturing voice and it's ability to be heard in a male world. However, the sexually aggressive voice can also be heard in the timbrel qualities of a voice which also contains connotations of rock authenticity:

A completely smooth, completely 'pure' sound, a sound completely free of what jazz musicians call 'dirt', is a highly idealized and abstract sound, suitable for expressing the abstract truth, but less in touch with the grit of the 'real world' (van Leeuween, 1999:175).

150 In fact a rough vocal timbre can position women as serious performers, and as

'real' sexual beings outside of a pop artifice. In fact compared to other feminine vocal types the obvious throaty sounds give the singer a creative, interpretive status beyond that of the 'mere singer' (e.g. , Tina Turner). This is because sex has been one way that women have been allowed to become part of a more masculine public world. Sexual appeal has been an asset for women in the entertainment industries, even as women themselves have been criticised for using their sexuality as a gimmick. Thus the textured differences in a singers voice, along with other contextual and intertextual meanings, relate to a rock/pop divide which in turn provides an aesthetic discourse of gender and gender relations.

There is also the eroticised voice that uses breathiness to convey personal intimacy which is less successful in gaining a 'serious' hearing because it is linked to a child-like femme fatale identity of female sexual power and manipulation. Although breathiness does not exclude a rough timbre in the voice, it does often represent a lack of 'public' volume and thus metaphorical power and can be criticised by critics as an obvious and crude sexual expression, a sonic sexual display as crude and uninventive as pornography. Madonna's vocal changes, and the way they are understood through her career, illustrates her move from a little girl Lolita status to adult woman, becoming a voice to be taken seriously.57 Certainly one of the main narratives which frames her new recordings has been the growth of strength and range in her voice:

No longer chirping like a Betty Boop doll. Madonna now sings like a completely ordinary woman, and that quality turns her new songs into revelations...They form a portrait of faith in the first person, connecting spiritual longing to the drive for sex and love, and to the sadness that comes with the knowledge of death (New York Times, 1998 Online)

57 Madonna's erotic breathy voice is exemplified on the track 'Justify My Love' and is reinforced through the video images of sexual encounters between Madonna and various male, female and androgynous characters. For a complex analysis of the video and song see Whiteley (2000:143-150).

151 Her child-like voice on her earlier albums is represented as a highly sexualised cartoon, while her metamorphosis into an adult is accompanied literally by a new sounding voice, with lyrical themes of spirituality and love. For Madonna and the recognition of her vocal skill is often contextulised through references to a black voice, "Her singing has genuine force and clarity: in the exultant title track she glides in and out of falsetto range and even tosses off a little Aretha­ like growl" (Schoemer, 1998 Online). This is in contrast to her Tittle girl' voice as described in her earlier career as immature and superficial, "Rodgers wisely supplies the kind of muscle Madonna's sassy lyrics demand. Her light voice bobs over the heavy rhythm and synth tracks like a kid on the carnival ride..." (Bull, 1997:37).58 In fact race has been one of the most powerful variables in the discourses which set out to measure the creative strength of the singer. Female African American are presented within a general rock history as authentically skilled and creative, displaying an authentic human experience through their vocalisations. This has elevated black female singers to great heights of artistic integrity where their voices are "...prized like instruments" (Garratt and Steward, 1984:12).59

Although Madonna's voice still positioned as sexy it has changed from nasal, high, and thin to what critics describe as "...now thicker, more lush and sexy"

(Spin, n.d. Online). Another states "...she sings here in a voice grown deeper and fuller about the emptiness of fame and pleasure..." (Dougherty, 1998

58 The producer is positioned as the basic creator of the foundational elements of the song, he is the "muscle" behind the girl. The notions of strength are combined with weight to represent Madonna as a "light voice" and the accompaniments as the masculine structure she lays on. The patriarchal discourse here is again one of diminishing female artist to child. I9 Just recently Aretha Franklin was voted the greatest singer of all time by other singers in Mojo (Mojo, 1998:86-88). However, it has been noted how this reverence for the black roots of rock and roll has been mythologised by white culture (Pattison, 1987:34). The obsession with purity can be seen in the way black musical forms have symbolised a non-commercial for white rock fans and critics, yet this glamorisation of black music betrays echoes of the 'noble savage' of colonial white paternalism. The irony here is that while there has been a celebration of the music of African Americans they continue to be subjected to social, economic and moral inequalities.

152 Online). These comments also are significant because they incorporate size metaphors in the critical evaluation of her voice. The importance of size is expressed in various ways through volume, range, timbre and often these measures are articulated through the appearance and body of the female performer. Female embodiment or appearance is often used as a point of departure in talking about what constitutes female sound and male sounds. For example, in an article which describes P.J. Harvey as "thin" and "frail" the journalists asks the rhetorical question "How did such a little belly create such throttle?" (Cummins, 1995:32). The smallness of the performer's body, yet the ability of these women to produce 'big' sounds, is constantly a source of surprise and comment. Another article concerning Bjork also states "...all that sound from such a small instrument" (Gill, 1994:152). These representations, fascinated with the connection between feminine small bodies and big sounds, are one way of creating a star-creative status onto female performers but also point to the continuing construction of women as child-like, as a way of understanding these performers through a patriarchal gaze. The expectations of the feminine body as weak, vulnerable, and lacking are revealed even in such

'positive' descriptions of their abilities and skill.

For female performers seen as purely pop constructions the child metaphor is a way of designating immaturity and silliness in the musical products embodied in the child feminine subject. For example, Kylie Minogue has been represented as 'the-girl-next-door' who tries hard to be a sophisticated star but only manages to show her 'true' self as an untalented and immature performer.

Often in her early career as a pop star Minogue was seen as simply an audience member somehow given the right to parade in front of an audience. Kylie

Minogue recent album, , has a number of different musical styles, from 90s dance to 60's pop, yet one critic suggests that she cannot hide her 'ordinariness' beneath the stylistic diversity. Not only her singing but her

153 whole self is represented as immature, she is simply dressing as her musical persona without any depth of musical ability or self discipline:

Throughout, she's the girl next door again, singing into her hairbrush in front of her bedroom mirror, hamming up proceedings without anything approaching conviction (Willmott, 1997 Online).

The criticisms of her vocal ability has been a constant problem for Minogue, who is seen as lacking the necessary emotional element:

Kylie Minogue is not a great interpreter - she lacks emotional depth and warmth - but on this evidence [Let's Get It On] she has more suss and feeling then she's credited with (Cranna, n.d. Online).

Although her voice does have an identity, it is rarely seen as enough, with reviewers describing it as "...an inoffensive singing tone..." (White, n.d. Online) to "...sweetly nasal.." (Collins, n.d. Online). The pop sound of her voice would seem to equate with a femininity that is musically safe and commercially acceptable. In some of the more strident critiques her lack of emotional input, in vocal terms, could be understood as an attack on her identity as an authentic feminine voice. Her thin nasal vocal timbre, as well as her limited note range, constructs Minogue through a discourse that designates femininity as artificial, even though paradoxically it is also understood as a 'natural' unskilled voice, that is forever fixed as lacking depth, thickness, and throat.

For Madonna the problem of her little-girl voice has been overcome by vocal techniques, training, recording production, and choice of songs. For most critics the turning point in her move from pop star to serious musical artist is paralleled by the sound of her voice. For example, in a history of women in music the change in Madonna's musical values is reflected in her gradual vocal changes, in timbre, volume, duration qualities and pitch:

154 The music on her first two albums and on True Blue (1986) is light, girlish, fresh, and hip. Madonna's thin, breathy, slightly nasal, and nervously energetic voice drives the music forward and is ideally suited to the dance tunes of these early albums. Like a Prayer (1989), her most serious album to date, reveals a more sophisticated approach. Her voice is lower, darker, fuller, and truer to pitch. The songs, while retaining much of the tunefulness of her earlier work, are serious and self-revelatory (Hoke, 1991:280)

Even though this profile has a positive intention of re-evaluating Madonna's musical status it still retains a dichotomy between feminine and masculine within the description of her lowering pitch and register. This understanding of

Madonna's vocalisations relates more broadly to feminist work on the voice and language in contemporary society where the male voice has become a universalised standard of public speech (Holland, 1996:195-196).60 What is masculine is coded as serious and thought provoking. What is feminine is coded as fun, body orientated, and a distraction (coded in the dance music of

Madonna's early records). Madonna herself has acknowledged that her voice has changed via an artistic narrative of growth - from girl to a woman. In an interview she explains her vocal changes as:

...a result of growing up and being more in touch with myself and singing deeper inside my chest. That had to do with my growth as a person, not wanting to be a little girl anymore. And not wanting to sound like a little girl (Madonna cited in Martin, 1992b:21).

The diva's femme fatale status can often be incorporated into both the little girl come on and the sexy, mature voice. However, the diva as a strong female role model is clearly part of the discourse of constructing the female singer as powerful and experienced in the public world of men and patriarchy. A diva's voice is thus both metaphoric and materially constructed. Madonna's move

60 The male newsreader exemplifies this public, rational, serious voice which provides a paradoxical position for the female newsreader, "The tension between an image which may not forget its femininity and a speech which may not embrace the feminine is central to the challenge posed by women newsreaders" (Holland, 1996:196).

155 from little-girl-voice to mature woman can not only be understood through the physiological and technical changes in her voice but also in the notion that she has something serious and revealing to say about herself and the world. She is understood as growing from her own personal experiences of love, motherhood, and media controversy.

Madonna, as discussed in the last chapter, has partly made a transformation from child to adult through motherhood and her longevity in the music business. Thus maturity as a woman is made meaningful not only through sexuality, but also through the maternal figure. The diva mother is a positive affirmation of feminine nurture, concern and comfort, her voice soothes, understands and protects. Jon Shepherd describes this voice as:

...soft and warm, based on much more relaxed use of the vocal chords and using the resonating chambers of the chest in particular in producing a rich, resonating sound. The physiology of sound production in this case seems to speak to a person more fully aware of her inner, experiential being on offering herself as a source of emotional nourishment (Shepherd, 1991:167).61

Here he is explaining this nurturing voice in opposition to the "cock rock" voice, a masculine coded vocal sound heard as "...hard and rasping...The sound relies on a highly constricted use of the vocal chords..." (Shepherd, 1991:167). The motherly voice is exemplified in Annie Lennox's solo recordings, and the critics' interpretations of them. Her voice on the Medusa album is one of comfort

- "Lennox wraps her voice around songs by other artists..." (Jennings, 1995

Online). Another critic reflects almost identical values:

61 Although Shepherds analysis can be criticised for stereotypical essentialism in regards to gendered bodies (see Cranny-Francis, 1994:47), his analysis is useful in that he points to a general pattern of gendered meanings attached to vocality. However, I emphasise the social context of such gendered meanings.

156 She delivers 's "Don't Let It Bring You Down" like a graceful sigh, gently wrapping the shivery warmth of her voice around the airy, synth-laden (Gardner, 1995:87).

The mothering voice also runs the danger of critical interpretations through the discourses of rock which place emphasis on the aggressive, rebellious voice as transgressive and challenging to a commercial packaging. These voices are

assumed to embody authentic criteria such as spontaneity, immediacy and

originality. Lennox's vocal style on these two solo albums, especially Medusa, was for some critics lacking in comparison to her more blues and rock

techniques of previous recordings, "..she's handicapped by overly slick

, and as a result treats the songs far too reverently, allowing none of what her voice does best (fury, hauteur, aggressive sexuality) to intrude"

(Danielsen, 1995a: 13s). Thus the feminine warmth and emotion conveyed in the other two reviews is interpreted here as ineffective:

...on Neil Young's Don't Let It Bring You Down she sounds utterly unconvinced by the material, her voice far too high, her delivery unfocused, tentative (Danielsen, 1995a: 13s).

However the mothering voice, like the androgynous performer, can escape the overt sexualisation which often leads to charges of manipulation and

commercialism. In fact in combination with a motherhood role Madonna has maintained a sexual identity but which is now underscored by both her

children and her second marriage to the father of her second child. That is, her own biography bears out her normalised feminine sexual and nurturing

desires, which position her recent images of permissive female sexuality and

desire at a subjective distance.62

62 The video for her 'Music' single has her driving around in a chauffeured car with her girlfriends, going to strip joints and joining or appropriating the typical male gaze of the woman as-sex-object. Also the music and her voice harks back to 'fun', 'dance' Madonna, with lyrical intertexrualities to such early songs 'Everybody' and 'Get In To the Groove'.

157 The androgynous and or drag voice relates to the diva figure in that her strength and power are signs of her masculinity and her ability to be successful in a man's world. Also the diva in opera has also has a long association with male gay audiences. In fact the diva as androgynous figure has a long history in opera which originates in the figure of the castrati:

If we think of a diva as a star or mezzo given to tantrums, vanities, and all manner of other excesses, then the first divas were castrati. If we think of a diva as a figure who disrupts, through her voice and the freedoms it gives her, the binary oppositions of the traditional sex- gender system, then the castrato, with his high, feminine register and his masculine vocal power, is an apt precursor (Leonardi and Pope, 1996:24- 25)

Thus her appeal is often pan sexual and thus androgynous, 'transcending' the female sex-object for the male heterosexual gaze.63 However, designating an

androgynous vocal positioning, like most vocal analysis, requires a context to read it in. Often the androgynous or cross-dressed voice is read through other

images of performance. Clearly Annie Lennox's image as cross-dressing subject can act as paradigm for understanding her voice as both masculine and

fenunine in such comments as, "...a throaty, flexible instrument that can evoke both passion and pain, strength and vulnerability" (Jaeger, 1992 Online). Certainly in her early career her vocal style displayed an androgyny which

could be read in the context of her image. In songs like 'Sweet Dreams' and

'Whose That GirT her voice is controlled and almost monotone in parts,

offering an image of machine-like coldness, and restrained emotion "...her delivery was a polished and controlled as a riff..." (Zackerek, 1992

Online).

63 This is certainly the case in terms of the gay audiences that surround Kylie Minogue. In fact most of the active members of many of the online discussion groups devoted to her had a major gay membership in which stories of 'coming out' were intertwined with their relationship with the star-text. Thus if one only considered Minogue's image, outside of an audience context, her sex-object image seems to be simply a heterosexual patriarchal positioning. However, Kylie's retro feminine glamour needs to be read in terms of a camp, as well as a patriarchal image.

158 Yet her cross-dressing is caught up with race as much as gender. Her use of dirty timbres, improvisation, gospel and blues forms of repetition and call and response, place many of Lennox work in the Eurythmics into a black American musical subjectivity.64 It also gives her voice a powerful status both as independent woman and as self labelled diva, "Tapping into the soul and rhythm-and-blues she soaked up as a teenager in Aberdeen, Scotland, Annie

Lennox makes the more from duo to diva with ease and " (Jaeger, 1992

Online). Her move from her Eurythmics persona to her solo 'adult pop' performer was in some cases understood as a change in her own vocal delivery,

"But whereas the Eurythmics could, on occasion, sound mechanical, Lennox, on her own, delivers a sound fraught with warmth and deep feeling" (Jaeger, 1992

Online). Lennox voice has always gained praise as a major asset which carries with it a black femininity of soul, "Casually soulful, her smooth singing glides and swoops and soars but doesn't poke at you for attention" (Brunner, 1999

Online).

P.J. Harvey's musical and vocal performances are similar to Lennox in that Harvey is seen as exploring consciously different voices and personas. Yet

Harvey's voice is often read as eccentric, extreme and unsettling, unlike Lennox who has maintained an uncontroversial vocal persona, represented as stylish, powerful and consciously skilled. Harvey's use of a male coded rock and blues voice as well a menacing and often highly aggressive and egotistical lyrical points-of-view, constructs a different theatre of gender relations from Lennox.

The media's presentations of Harvey as a unique female performer are usually based on her appropriation of elements of the male voice as her own within

"...an aggressive male sound" (Danielsen, 1995c:13s). Harvey's general critical

b4 Examples of this black style include the songs 'Ball and Chain' and 'Would I Lie to You'. Also her teaming with Aretha Franklin on 'Sisters are Doin' It For Themselves' cemented Lennox's vocal prowess and popular image as a white soul singer.

159 high status is often weighted on her use of and ability to build on a male defined canon of the blues, as a writer, guitarist and interpreter.

Harvey has various ways of using her voice, using both recognisable female codes, such as operatic vibrato, pitch, and breathiness, as well as using a rough tense lower pitched voice, often within the one song. Sometimes these two vocal personas are valued differently. , in the avant garde music press publication The Wire, gives a description of Harvey's musical voice as shifting between a feminine over emotionalism and a "tough" minded masculinity:

The rest of consists of string-swept melodramas like "C'mon Billy" and "Send his Love To Me" that propel Harvey into dangerously overwrought territory, although "The Dancer" does feature some gawky vocal acrobatics that hint at her opera studies and admiration for Diamanda Galas. Generally, though, PJ's far better when she's low-down and guttural than when she throws back her head and belts; far better as tight-throated tough guy than demonstrative woman, in other words (Reynolds, 1995:49).

It is unclear why Reynolds feels that this vocal style/persona is better. Maybe it is because this voice represents a rational seriousness and is an obvious transgression of strict mainstream gender roles. Reynolds is certainly more interested in Harvey's masculine vocality then her more recognisable feminine voice. One reason for this is seemingly because of her transgression of genre "...the fact that it's a woman trying on the bluesman-boho persona for size adds a degree of intrigue to even the most turgidly trad track here" (Reynolds,

1995:49). The idea that her higher vibrato voice is too over-emotional, and by extension too feminine, is a representation which needs to be deconstructed. It is also a theme which has already been suggested in relation to the diva position and the way the 'operatic' voice is both denigrated as feminine hyperbole as well as feminine strength and power. Whatever the case Reynolds

160 shows the coded gendered subject positions encoded in the musical voice. The materiality of her voice, the techniques used, literally embodies a sonic

gendered opposition which by extension relates to the different emotional and

communicative skills of men and women. For some her vocal 'impersonations'

are unsettling: "On the slow-grinding T Think I'm a Mother', Harvey marched

stiffly and sang in a disturbingly deep register, taking on the persona of an

emasculated man" (Pearse, 1995:31). Her lyrical point-of-view, which encompasses violent sexual imagery, is also interpreted as unique and

transgressive due to its placement in generic masculine rock history. However, there is an uneasiness in critics interpretation of her music:

...Harvey uses ambiguity in both lyrical phrasing and the sex of the subjects to tantalise and unnerve; you only have to read as far as the song titles to get the idea: 'Rub Til It Bleeds', Man-Size', 'Hook', 'Legs'. That this language, usually the preserve of the macho males, is delivered with barely suppressed vehemence by a woman who looks so, well, normal, is doubly disturbing or encouraging, depending upon your outlook (Phillips, 1993:60).

It is the combination of the feminine and masculine within Harvey's music

which seems to intrigue as well as garner respect from the critics. Within a discourse of creativity she is seen as unique, unique as a woman in a man's world who is both "...confrontational and vulnerable" (Aston, 1992:69). Her

musical cross-dressing is thus a source of creative respect, as it stands for a

creative freedom and a neglect of commercial concerns, which are often

metaphorically represented by a feminine voice of sweet seduction and

manipulation. Harvey's voice in comparison is 'honest' and 'real', not pretty.

Leonardi and Pope make it clear that the diva label symbolises a tension within

representing musical performance as simply gendered, that is as either

masculine or feminine. Often the power we assign to the diva's voice is caught

up in the contradictions between 'normal' femininity as private, emotionally

161 giving and expressive, but silent in the public world, and an eccentric, aggressive, or mad femininity which paradoxically is difficult to avoid because of the public nature of recorded music. The diva is strong because she speaks/sings, yet she may also be vulnerable to criticisms of vanity, commercialism and inappropriate emotional displays.

The Guitarist and the Construction of the Masculine Subject

Taking up a musical identity as rock musician has been one strategy in which women have attempted to circumvent the contradictions and patriarchal discourses of the singer's role. In comparison to the singer, the guitarist has been firmly contextualised as a masculine musical practice. This has meant that the role of guitarist, although seemingly an answer to female marginalisation in rock, continues to be encoded as a male stage prop, where the guitar is feminised as an object to be played65, and represents a sonic masculinity which many women find both attractive but intimidating:

The skills involved in playing the instrument are perceived as 'male' skills, inappropriate for women. A woman playing a rock instrument is breaking the gender code. She faces a set of low expectations concerning her competence (woman with guitar = fish with bicycle). For a man, a good performance on the electric guitar is simultaneously a good 'performance' of 'masculinity'. The 'heavier' the rock the more true that is (Bayton, 1997:43).

The lack of successful female guitarist can be measured through the popular histories written about rock and the representation of women in popular music magazines, especially the specialist guitar magazines. As Mavis Bayton has

65 The feminisation of the guitar can be seen in several aspects. Many of the classic blues men had female names for their . The personification of the guitar as female is also made via the shape of the guitar body (Santoro, 1984:162). It can also be made concrete in the way male artists have talked about their relationships with their guitars on stage and off. For example, it has been said of that at one time slept with his guitar having heard that many of his blues guitar heroes had (Santoro, 1984:175).

162 found, magazines such as Guitar and Guitar World have minimal female representation both in terms of writers and performers (Bayton, 1997:38-39).

Some change can be seen in the more general music press where it is no longer assumed that amateur guitar playing is just for men. In a recent article entitled

'Guitar Heroes', in Rolling Stone, David Fricke explains the electric guitar's appeal to both sexes:

But rock & roll's infinite capacity for renewal and surprise is packed into the lightening-bolt impact of those Great Guitar Moments - the way a simple hook, a feedback squeal, even a cocksure pose can send a kid over the moon and them reaching for his or her own instrument (Fricke, 1999:49).

Yet this inclusion of women as striving guitarists needs to be seen within the context of the article as a whole, and the fact that women make up a handful of the guitarists asked to name and describe their guitar heroes. Along with the low representation in terms of numbers, it is also the mythologising of the guitar as a democratic and assessable instrument that works against any questioning of the surrounding it. The Rolling Stone feature goes on to say:

The guitar is not the only rock & roll instrument capable of expressing uninhibited joy and explosive honesty; the and the are part of the architecture. But the guitar remains a barometer of purity and commitment for the same reasons it was rock's primary agent of change: affordability, accessibility and the fact that all you need to play it are desire and imagination (Fricke, 1999:49).

Yet as feminist research has pointed out, this access is ideological as much as economic. This can be clearly illustrated in the advertisements within publication such as Guitar World. In an advertisement for Guitar pickups hails the potential guitar hero as male:

You don't have to have a name like Slash, Dweesil or Blues to make guitar playing your life. Lots of guys with regular-sounding names like George

163 and (your name here) are doing just fine, thankyou...See, these guys know that pickups are the heart and soul of their guitar. Pickups determine the individual voice of your instrument. With the right pickups, harmonics will leap off the neck. Sustain a note, go grab a bite, come back, it'll still be singing. You'll sound better. You'll play better. You'll run faster. You'll higher. You'll gain popularity. You'll get the babe (Guitar World, 1999:14)

Although the commercial is intended as humorous (tongue and cheek references to the language of advertising in general) there is that the traditional patriarchal notions of who is a suitable prospect for the guitar hero remains male. The language used to describe and ultimately sell guitars, reflects a tradition of feminising the guitar as an object to be played. The previous ad talked about the guitar singing while the guitarist took up the authorial role of the producer of the sound. A Gibson guitar ad uses the following metaphors of feminine beauty to sell to a predominantly male audience:

When you wrap your hands around the Les Paul Exotic series, your ears will confirm what your eyes have suggested. This beauty is not only skin deep. A slimmer body, unmistakable Les Paul tone, and traditional Les Paul design make this guitar sing it's own praises (Guitar World, 1999:21).

Conversely, or in contradiction to the feminising of the guitar as an object to be played etc, is the symbolic use of the guitar as the phallus. In the early years of rock and roll the gestures and performances around the guitar can be seen as significant in generating a masculine discourse around the instrument. Performers like Elvis and Chick Berry used the guitar as a prop to perform their sexual persona. Chuck Berry performed what was called the "duck walk", "As Berry crouched across the stage on his haunches, his big red guitar hanging between his legs, there was no doubt about just what other instrument the guitar was representing" (Santoro, 1984:162)

Thus the decision to take up the guitar, for women, creates a difficult but interesting set of tensions between masculinity as egotistical sexual prowess

164 and the patriarchal moral discourses concerning female displays of similar elements as commercial gimmickry. L7, as an all female rock band are a useful example to analyse in relation to these patriarchal contradictions and the kinds

of alternative strategies available for women in such a male defined context.

Reynolds and Press have defined L7 as falling into a tomboy tradition, or 'one

of the boys' approach, available for women in rock in the last 30 years. L7 also

draw on a punk musical context which has poked fun at, and rejected the rock

guitarist 'skill' which developed throughout the 1960s and 1970s, emerging in

the stadium rock spectacles of the 1980s. This punk style has also developed an

authenticity of its own, represented in an honest, although technically

'adequate', rock performance. L7's all-female membership and humorous

approach to the rock genre is appreciated, and their lack of high guitar skill is

not problematic within the context of of the 1990s:

Perhaps their guitar prowess is secondary to their rifling assault, but the punk-stained attitude and their ability to draw a melody line out of the most simplistic of chord progressions makes L7's warped and tongue-and-cheek stories essential listening (Henderson, 1994:102)

The authenticity represented here is repeated in other reviews, suggesting that

their rock-punk musical effort, and uniqueness as a female rock group which

does not trade on feminine sexuality, gives them valuable standing in such

comments as, "L7 are plain-spoked, abrasive, muscular rock and roll and do it

with , sweaty authority that few other can duplicate" (Darzin, n.d. Online).

In fact L7 use the generic meanings of alternate rock to make fun of male rock performance and skill. They poke fun at their own inability to perform such rock iconographic elements such as the guitar solo. This is in line with an alternative discourse which has de-throned the guitar hero as "...a master of his instrument..." (Waksman, 1999:240). On a song called 'Drama' from the record

The Beauty Process, the guitar solo heard in the middle of the song is actually a

165 toy guitar which automatically plays various rock riffs. suggests that it was used because the band members did not have to play such a riff (Sparks quoted in Hamilton, 1997:38). However, in listening to this track, the obvious classic metal riff creates a humorous point of deconstruction, poking fun at masculinity as childish egotism. L7's dislike of guitar prowess can

also be read as a rejection of the phallic performance of the guitar, a way to

avoid creating overt phallic displays of themselves, a practice which has been

described as part of a "cock rock" repertoire of performance (Frith and

McRobbie, 1990).66 L7's lyrical non-sexual themes, along with their self-

deprecating humour, reinforces their rejection of a phallic style of play.

As will be described in the next chapters, L7's strategy of 'tomboy rock'

connects to a discourse of gender neutrality, which continues to be part of the

devaluing of a feminine subjectivity. This can be seen in the fear by L7, as a

group sound, of musical elements which could be interpreted as feminine and

thus commercial. In answer to an interview question concerning the perceived

risks taken in creating and recording The Beauty Process album, Donita Sparks

replies:

Pop backing vocals. And I think we pulled it off. I thought it was something we had to shy away from in the past - you know, for the rock aggression thing. But you hear bands like Cheap Trick or the Breeders doing awesome backing vocals, and you get more confidence. So, basically, we ripped off Cheap Trick and the Breeders (Sparks quoted in Hamilton, 1997:38).

The fear of sounding too pop through the use of multiple harmonious vocals,

and thus being represented as selling out, is illustrated in the way critics try to

assure fans of L7's critical attitude to :

66 Frith and McRobbie describe cock rock as a style of performance which "...is an explicit, crude, and often aggressive expression of male sexuality..." (1990:347).

166 For those addicted to the ultra-macha-punk throb of L7 watersheds, the neo-Go-Go's vibe of tracks like "Livin' Large" and "Little One" may be disappointing. Fear not. The harmonious pop sweetness that L7 pump through their buzzing amps has a super-catchy, Joan Jett-meets-the- Breeders feel that zestfully floors the accelerator (Stovall, 1999 Online).

Here the all-female pop band of the 1980s the Go-Go's is juxtaposed with female bands and performers who have more rock authenticity. Thus L7's music sound is given a high aesthetic value through these intertexual references. In the latest album the use of backing vocals is described as part of L7's critical sense of humour:

...the band's latest effort, SlapHappy, delivers lots of what L7 does best: rocking, heavy tunes with sarcastic lyrics, and when the band delivers a little girl-group harmony ("Crackpot Baby"), it's done strictly for laughs (Morgan, 1999 Online).

In summary it is the perceived femininity of certain musical elements and practices which L7 try to avoid and which furthermore maintains their difference, reserving a special place for them in 1990s accounts of women in rock. Both their rejection of feminine vocality, and the 'limited' role of the singer, through maintaining an all-female band structure, gives them a space which is represented as resistant to traditional femininity. As will be explored in the next two chapters, L7's own strategy of maintaining a gender neutral articulation of themselves cannot wholly absorb more radical readings of their performances, both through feminist and anti-feminist discourses.

L7 have taken an approach that situates them as band members and rock musicians, however untrained and unpractised, and thus confirms a masculine positioning which puts them in opposition to femininity. In fact Reyonlds and Press argue that L7's one of the boys approach is a cul-de-sac for a feminist aesthetic stating, "Surely women have more to offer rock than the same

167 hardened, repressed armature cool?" (1995:248). Yet L7 are never fully appropriated by the values and terms of rock authenticity and tend to negotiate a femininity by subverting the symbols of 'cock rock', especially that of the genius phallic guitar performance. Drawing on alternative rock, through the legacy of punk, 17 evade femininity as sex-object by dressing down and presenting themselves as a band rather than a collection of individual women to be sexually exploited. The rejection of musical skill, again through a alternative rock discourse, allows them to make fun of cock rock performance through their own humorous 'faked' attempts. Yet there is a certain limitation on invoking the feminine within the rock band context for L7. Too many feminine elements may leave them open to criticisms of commercialism, and a fear of this positioning is apparent in the band's interviews and explanations.

For one thing singing, like their playing, is not represented as a practiced, or conscious set of skills or techniques, both rejecting rock as masculinised skill as well as devaluing pop singing as feminised commercial prettiness.

Conclusion

This chapter has argued that the generic labels of rock and pop act as an ideological divide which separates male and female musical communication, thus deploying essentialism as a discourse which organises media representations of women in popular music. This extends to the forms of communications and the roles attached to genres and gender. The singer and the musician are at times oppositional pairs which are made meaningful through other oppositions such as feminine/masculine, decoration/substance, and interpretation/creation. There are, nevertheless negotiations and contradictions which challenge the simplistic pairing which have been

168 suggested in the analysis above, and which will be pursued in the following chapters.

In discussing the identity of the diva, the negotiations of patriarchal power relations in the construction of the singer were also analysed. What has come to light is that the diva, as a musical feminine subject position, is a complex symbol representing both feminine power and weakness. The diva can be constructed through patriarchal discourses of femininity which draw on the femme fatale, the mad woman, the seductive Lolita, and the androgyne, to make femininity a meaningful but often dangerous subject position.

Negotiations of this historicised figure exist even within these traditional categories. The diva as emotional communicator, nurturer, and independent woman, empowering her listeners through her vocalisations, can negate claims

of over emotionalism, narcissism, commercialism and creative inauthenticity.

This narrative of the diva as a strong woman, who dares to speak in a man's world relates in a significant way to feminism as a subjectivity. This issue is

explored in the next two chapters.

169 CHAPTER FIVE FEMINISM PART 1 - FEMINIST IDENTITY- REPRESENTATIONS AND CONSTRUCTIONS.

Introduction

Like femininity, feminism is not one unified whole, having a neat set of characteristics. When we talk about feminism we are really talking about (Warhol and Herndl, 1991:xii). In fact, the diversity of feminism is now one of its defining characteristics. However, the representation of feminism, and the feminist, within the media has had a narrow stereotypical treatment. This chapter is concerned with an analysis of feminism as a recognisable subjectivity constructed through patriarchal and competing discourses . First, a background to the issue of feminism as a identity and social movement in the 1990s is covered through a summary of the popular debates and literature. Secondly, the representation of feminism in the music press is examined through identifying several alternative labels that allow for a possible feminist subjectivity. These include riot grrrls, women in rock, the angry young woman, postfeminists, and girl power. Lastly, the strategies of identification by female performers and fans are examined in an attempt to explore the possibilities for positive feminist readings, as well as the extent to which patriarchy shapes, limits and undermines such identifications and readings.

170 Popular Debates and Feminism in the 1990s

Before beginning the main analysis of the ways in which feminism is represented as an identity within the popular music media, a background is provided to address why this question is important and still relevant.

One major reason for analysing feminism in popular culture has been the media interest in the fate and consequences of second wave feminism. Part of this interest has been generated by popular feminist writers who have claimed a crisis for feminism. Some have argued that there has been a patriarchal media backlash against feminism which has turned younger women away from identifying with it as a possible subject position (Faludi, 1991; Wolf, 1990).

Feminist writers and journalists have also suggested that it is as much a generational tension between the metaphorical mothers of second wave feminism and their daughters, and grand daughters, as a patriarchal backslide

(see Orr, 1997). The notion that feminism has diversified as an identity and practice links into this generation-gap narrative, which has been articulated in various ways by many younger feminist writers:

There is no young feminist any more. There is no one movement. There are young who call themselves feminists but who have almost nothing in common - politically, ideologically - with each other. Contemporary feminism has become a philosophical and political ethos so accepted by a younger generation of Australian women that they don't even bother to explain it. Feminism now incorporates so wide a spectrum of thinking and action that some older feminist clearly cannot get a grip on it (Trioli, 1996:9).

Rene Denfeld (1995) argues that the label feminism represents an organised set of institutions, organisations and theories which have no real connection to ordinary young women's lives. Like Trioli (1996), she believes the daughters of

171 second wave feminism have taken on the messages of feminism, and are using these values in their day-to-day lives without having to identify with the label

"feminist". This label is undesirable to women, according to Denfeld, because feminism has:

...become bogged down in an extremist moral and spiritual crusade that has little to do with women's lives. It has climbed out on a limb of academic theory that is all but inaccessible to the uninitiated. It has lost contact with the ideas that sparked the second wave - individual empowerment and political activism - and has substituted a worldview that speaks to the very few, while alienating many. For women of my generation, feminism has become as confining as what it pretends to combat (Denfeld, 1995:5).

Barbara Findlen, editor of Listen Up: Voices from the Next Generation, expresses the existence of a feminist generation gap when she claims:

Young feminists are constantly told that we don't exist. It's a refrain heard from older feminists as well as in the popular media: "Young women don't consider themselves feminists." Actually, a lot of us do. And many more of us have integrated feminist values into out lives, whether we choose to use the label "feminist" (Findlen, 1995:xiv).

Another set of feminist writers has chosen to break completely with feminism as a movement and set themselves the task of critiquing feminism almost out of existence. This group Catherine Orr calls "feminist dissenters":

Convinced that feminism has become the cause of, rather than the solution to, women's problems, feminist dissenters are entangled in representations of third wave discourse. They are frequently touted and even supported by conservative constituencies and constructed as youthful rebels against "establishment feminism" in the popular media (Orr, 1997 Online).

She sees this perspective exemplified in Wolf's book Fire With Fire (1993) and

Roiphe's The Morning After: Sex, Fear and Feminism (1993) (Orr, 1997 Online). It can also be seen in the work of Camille Paglia (see 1993, 1994), who examines

172 the legacy of American feminism which apparently creates women as victims, as well as giving a bad name to masculinity. In her popular writing's on

Madonna she says, "Madonna is a true feminist. She exposes the puritanism and suffocating ideology of American feminism, which is stuck in an adolescent whining mode..." (Paglia, 1993:163).

Other non-feminists and anti-feminists (often seen as part of a growing men's movement), similarly, have charged feminism with creating many of the problems that women now apparently face, including an inability to find male partners and the poverty experienced as a result of single motherhood.

Feminism, in these popular accounts has tipped the gender balance too far leaving men the victims in the form of undisciplined fatherless sons and alienated husbands and boyfriends subjected to a tyranny of political correctness. In The Failure of Feminism, Nicholas Davidson (1988) articulates what B.J. Dow (1996) and others have called a postfeminism rhetoric. He argues that feminism has made women's personal lives worse, creating problems with their relationships with men (Davidson, 1988:1) and thus making feminism the cause of the apparent unhappiness and double burden of their personal lives.

These popular representations of the feminist 'problem' point to the continuing patriarchal power relations which struggle to minimise feminism as a social movement. The persistence of the theme of feminist identity and what it means in the 1990s suggests that feminism as a lived set of experiences and practices is a site of contention and contradiction. Thus the politics of labelling and the discourses which construct and circulate feminist subjectivity is one way of analysing the contemporary situation.

173 Music Press: Representation of Feminism and the Feminist Subject

In the late 1990s the media has noted the commercial success of performers and related this to a broader equalisation of gender relations. In fact, the chart successes of performers like Celine Dion, Whitney Huston, and

Alanis Morissette are interpreted as a reflection of the equality of women in society at large. Certainly the sales figures seem to bear this view out with acts like the Spice Girls, Celine Dion, and Alanis Morissette67 selling millions in the

1990s, equal to, and often outselling male performers like and supergroups like (see Tianen, 1999 Online).

Although women in popular music, both as performers and consumers, have been celebrated as a new commercial force, there are contradictions in the way this success has been represented as part of a general feminist consciousness by performers, fans and the industry. For example, the recognition of feminist values and practices is often reconstructed through an opposition set up between second and third wave feminism. This difference is understood as a choice between political correctness and individual expression. As one music journalist puts it, "The much-mocked Girl Power is on the increase. The women in the lists do not conform to some feminist ideal nor are they writing protest songs" (Cooper, 1998 Online).

The distancing of 1990s female performance from a politically correct feminism

(e.g. folk protest), which is constructed as serious, un-fun and dated, is a theme which can be found in the representations of many of the performers addressed in this thesis. The dichotomous oppositional representation of 'old' vs 'new'

67 Morissette's Jagged Little Pill sold approximately 15 million copies and stayed on the charts for two years after its release in 1995 (Cramer, n.d. Online).

174 feminism is one way that both 'new' feminist identifications and patriarchal constructions of feminism appear in the media. As we have already seen, feminist writers themselves take up this opposition in different ways; some playing it down, while others embrace it.

Critics separate female musical performances from the second wave feminist stereotype in an attempt to normalise the performer in question. For example, the alternative female rock band L7 are described in one review as not a

"Typical po-faced grrrl band..." (Mair, 1994:82), while P.J. Harvey's album Rid of

Me is made relevant to a non-feminist/female audience with the words that it is "...far from a po-faced feminist manifesto" (Phillips, 1993:60). This review clearly marks Harvey as some kind of feminist identity, however there is ambiguity as to where Harvey should be positioned, both because of her own reluctance to label herself, and because of the negative associations attached to the label feminist:

While she's always shrugged off any kind of singing Andrea Dworkin mantle - understandably - last year Polly Harvey did seem pre-occupied with the ropes thattied dow n her sex (Phillips, 1993:60).68

In an article entitled 'Media Images, Feminist Issues' Deborah L. Rhodes (1995) discusses three ways in which the media, in particular the American press, represents the and feminists in a negative or dismissive light. One of the most obvious tactics has been to demonise feminism as man- hating, unattractive, and a simple reflection of a lesbian lifestyle. Another is to trivialise the movement, its objectives and the people who attach themselves to

68 Andrea Dworkin is symbolic of a which has often been portrayed within an anti-feminist discourse of male-hating. She is also symbolic of a wider, common-sense meaning which situates the feminist subject as extremely serious, boring, and without a sense of humour. The second wave has been associated with a distorted version of radical feminism, with radical feminist practices and the general anger vented in high profile demonstrations becoming the easiest part of feminism for the media to cover. "This rage, distorted, trivialised and depoliticised, was seized upon by the media and parodied in the mainstream and still informs the (mis) conception of a 'feminist' today" (Whelehan, 1995:67).

175 it. Finally, and more subtly, the press personalises feminism to an individualised struggle rather than a more abstract set of structural and political problems (Rhodes, 1995:686, 692-701). As we shall see, this last tactic is employed throughout the many representations of feminism in the music media.

Following is an analysis of the way female performers are represented through various euphemistic labels which point to a feminist identification by the media. These are employed in both positive and negative ways. These labels act as substitutes, allowing women performers to be read through feminist meanings as well as creating a distance between them and more negative feminist identities. These labels also undermine feminism as a positive and

'reasonable' female subjectivity, through the continuation of various feminist stereotypes constructed by the media and patriarchal discourses. These represent feminism and feminists as boring, unfashionable, ugly, mad, and as self-made victims. On the other hand, alternative and counter discourses, including that of rock, reconstruct feminism and its euphemistic labels as rebellious and creative. These labels, and associated discourses, include post- feminism, women in rock, riot grrrls, girl power and angry young women.

These labels represent ways of talking about feminism that reflect the diversity of issues, practices and opinions of female performers, as interpreted and understood in the mass music media. They all, to some extent, represent both a distancing from a direct feminist identification and an acknowledgment of feminist attitudes, practices and beliefs, within popular culture.

176 Postfeminism/Postfeminists

One label which has been used to differentiate feminism as a subjectivity in the

1990s and second wave feminism has been that of postfeminism or postfeminist. Some feminists have emphasised how this terms has become a patriarchal discourse, circulated in the media, which criticises feminism for the continuing unhappiness of both men and women:

Postfeminism is a term used to refer to attitudes towards women's liberation that began to emerge in media coverage in the late 1980s. In various journalistic efforts to assess the progress of women and their attitudes toward changes in their lives, two basic themes recurred. The first, signified in the term "postfeminism," was that the feminist movement was over, having accomplished its major goals...The second theme emerged in press accounts focusing on women's dissatisfaction with the aftermath of these feminist advances - their difficulties combining family and work..., the "infertility epidemic" among career women, the guilt and anxiety of working mothers over the problem of "toxic" day care, and the supposed "marriage crunch" experienced by women who had deferred marriage in their twenties, only to find that their chances of securing a mate had drastically declined. The implication of this second theme was that, regardless of their progress in the public sphere, success in the private sphere of romance, marriage, and motherhood was still the key priority in women's lives (Dow, 1996:16).

In the context of the music media, and its representations of women performers, postfeminism is used in both these ways. By positioning second wave feminism as out-of-date and irrelevant the use of postfeminism paradoxically erases feminism as an appropriate subjectivity as well as acknowledges the history of the feminist movement. In fact, there is much ambiguity in the use and possible reading of such a label, as it is often used without any clear definition in the music press. Yet it can be said that on one level the postfeminist represents a 'new' female subject position which draws on both a popularised understanding of postmodern culture and a more traditional discourse of individualism. In 'positive' representations performers

177 like Alanis Morissette and P.J. Harvey are positioned through this label in opposition to a feminism constructed as militant, organised, serious and inflexible. Postfeminism thus can represents a female individuality and difference unconstrained by organisational rules and doctrine. Performers like

Morissette express this rejection of feminism as a militant and organised attack on the male rock world, which at the same time confirm her interest in representing feminism, in statements such as:

...what's happened to me has propelled me into a position where I have to be more verbal about my feminism. But I have had female artists, who I won't mention, come up to me and say, Yeeeah, we're takin' over! and I shake my head and say No we're not. We're joining (Morissette quoted in Eccleston, 1996:92).

Morissette distances herself from the familiar stereotype of the unfeminine feminist yet in contrast her lyrical jibes at male infidelity and egotism position her as a feminist figure with whom other women can identify "...as a post- feminist saint/older sister for every teenage girl who ever felt dicked around by some insensitive weasel of a male" (Perna, 1997 Online). Morissette's postfeminist position, at least in this media article, is not a complete negation of feminism but rather a represents a feminism different from the 1960s and

1970s. This can be clearly seen when the article goes onto a define Morissette as

"...pop's leading exponent of Nineties feminine sensibilities" (Perna, 1997

Online). That is, postfeminism in the mainstream press is clearly linked to a

feminist, or more vaguely a feminine, expression situated within a

contemporary time frame. Beyond this broad meaning post-feminism is vague, contradictory and mobilised with both negative and positive connotations. For example, another media profile of Morissette states:

...if post-feminist songwriters including Morissette have proved anything, it's that for every salute your independence elicits, there's someone turning Japanese in the shed with a scrunched-up copy of your latest

178 promo pic no matter how prim or strange you choose to appear (Eccleston, 1996:92).69

This has a more underhanded negativity, although at the same time acknowledging Morissette's postfeminist status. A patriarchal discourse of essentialism is mobilised here to undermine feminism as a strategy, positioning

Morissette as the inevitable sex-object to a male sexual gaze. The star-audience relationship is also invoked as one of instincts and biological drives, with the star image (Morissette) unconsciously provoking such responses. Feminist politics takes a backseat to an essentialist understanding of male/female relations.

Postfeminism is also mobilised as a celebration of difference and often seen as the embracing of popular culture as a medium for feminist politics (Reynold and Press, 1995:317). In this sense postfeminism is not necessarily about anti- feminist or non-feminist discourses, rather it "...is about the conceptual shift within feminism from debates around equality to a focus on debates around difference. It is fundamentally about, not a depoliticisation of feminism, but a political shift in feminism's conceptual and theoretical agenda" (Brooks, 1997:4). As we have seen the re-appropriation of patriarchally suspect popular images, such as the Lolita figure, can be read as a feminism that takes up methods of deconstruction within popular cultural context. It also indicates that there may be more than one strategy in which a feminist message can be read. In the case of the commercial success of Alanis Morissette, one review indicates her positioning as a postfeminist subject out of many:

Yet as post-punk feminism goes, Jagged Little Pill is more stylish argument than probing heart talk more than PJ Harvey or Liz Phair (Fricke, 1995:119).

69 This last sentence is in reference to male masturbation, using the rather obscure musical reference to a song entitled 'Turning Japanese', of the early 1980s, by the Vapours.

179 This acknowledges the multiplicity of feminism, although there is a sense that Morissette's sound and lyrical themes are more commercially driven. This rather ambiguous statement also illustrates the complex tensions between a commercial /artistic opposition where postfeminism can become a label for a co-opted fashionable image as well as a label of rebellious difference.

To summarise, as well as containing the acknowledgment of a feminist identity,

postfeminism also alludes to its irrelevance in a contemporary context. The

strategies of protest, formal organisation and the rejection of commodity culture, emphasised in the representation of second wave feminism by the

media, are often understood as out-dated, unreasonable, and boring in a

postfeminist world. However, both these and other feminist strategies still exist.

Yet, the postfeminist label makes it difficult to clearly pinpoint feminism as a straight-forward category of identification, being both mobilised through anti-

feminist discourses as well as represented as a 'new' media savvy feminist identity, or in other words "...a more distant, ironical take on feminism

practised by younger women" (Reynolds and Press, 1995:317).

Women in Rock/Pop

Whilst post-feminism often carries with it a covert understanding that feminism

as a cohesive/unified category is no longer possible, and/or is undesirable to

most women, women in rock/pop has the opposite effect. The label presumes a

community based on the category of being women. However, it has been noted

that it does so in respect to a popular music culture which is presumed to be

male. Women become marginalised through, paradoxically, the recognition of them as a group. Garrett and Stewart argue that it is "...a misleading catch- phrase: it reduces women's participation in music to one standard, uniform

180 category - regardless of the differences in their music, outlooks, or ambitions"

(1984:8). This effect of collapsing women as a category with musical expression means that women in male dominated genres resist directly acknowledging their gender as an issue. L7 as an all female band have continually tried to play down this fact in media interviews, refusing often to answer questions related to gender even though members of the band have said that they are feminist, and have established an organisation called raising money for feminist groups in support of abortion rights in the :

Despite its passionate social convictions, however, L7 does not want to be pigeonholed as a political band. In fact, the group despises labels in general, especially the one it is saddled with more frequently: All Girl Band.

Certain gender-orientated questions can set Sparks and Finch off like a match to dynamite. Apparently, L7 has encountered its share of journalists...pursuing the standard "What's it like being women in hard rock?" angle...According to the band, the answer to that oft-asked question is pretty straightforward: it's not that different (Matsumoto, 1992 Online).

L7 are fearful of speaking about a 'female experience' in interviews because of the fact that femininity in rock is often devalued and seen as a commercial gimmick. Women as a category from which to speak is seen as marginal. This is

illustrated in some reviews which attempt to reassure listeners that L7 are not just trading on their femaleness as novelty but rather transcend their gender:

L7 is well known as the top all-female metal band, but its unconquerable new album, ...vaults the group into a larger category: Now L7 is one of the top hard-rocking bands of any kind, gender be damned...Lots of bands can lay down massive riffs; few can match the skin-crawling, fourth-dimensional overdrive L7 kicks into on each chorus of "Baggage". Yes, the groups still writes feminist lyrics, depicting women's fear of rape in "Can I Run" and celebrating a female auto racer in "Shirley." But after an album this strong, pigeonholing them simply as a "women's band" would be ridiculous (Shadow, 1994 Online).

181 The label is also problematic because it subsumes the differences between women in musical style or genre and it ignores historical, class, ethnic and other social differences. Paradoxically, by doing this it creates the category of women as a central subjective experience, and plants a seed for the recognition of feminist subjectivity. Thus those histories of women in popular music, already mentioned in the literature review, are part of a feminist strategy to uncover the

contributions of women in their own right, without reference to a male canon.

However, by pursuing a separate female canon one runs the risk of separating

male/female skill, talent and audience interest. The fear expressed by L7

towards labels such as 'all girl band' or 'all female band' is related to the devaluation of the music through its female status; to them such labels are

potentially derogatory.

Also, the label in an abstract way sets up notions of community, of shared interest and experiences, which are contradicted by the reality of the male dominated industry. In one interview Tori Amos is quoted as saying:

I'll tell you now that there has not been one woman from a band who's turned up at my gigs. Polly Harvey and Bjork are the only women I know in the music business. I know hundreds of men in bands. And not because they wanna get with me. There just ain't that kind of supportiveness among women in rock (Amos quoted in Cigerettes, 1994:10).

On a practical level, the problem of forming a supportive female community is augmented by the lack of females in the industry at all levels of power, as well

as in successful creative roles. Representations of women performers by the media often put forward an idealised and sentimentalised image of women's sex as bonding them together, despite musical, cultural and class differences.

On a broader level, most of the women performers covered in this research are surrounded by male musicians, and producers, especially solo performers such as Tori Amos, Alanis Morissette, Annie Lennox and Madonna. The conscious

182 construction of a female community in terms of these roles is obviously still very difficult.70

Whatever the realities of women's musical experience the label women in rock can be used by women to de-stabilise the male coding of rock:

'Women in rock', then, at this historical and specific moment, should embrace the use of the term by which the rock press and music business at the same time includes them in and abjects them from the rock complex. Refusing the title 'women in rock' only reinforces the naturalisation of the unspoken 'men in rock'. At worst, the term attempts to contain the semiotic excess that 'women in rock' represents to the rock complex. But at the sametime, 'women in rock', as artists and as the 50 per cent of the rock audience which is female, as well as analysts and theorists thinking and writing about rock, can use this term to truly put women into rock (Coates, 1997:62).

Coates explains that the term women in rock, although obviously a generalisation which ignores difference, can be used to express the differences and inequalities that women face in comparison to men. In that sense women do have similar experiences. The label has also created a commercial category which has benefited women performers, making them more commercially attractive to record companies and to the media in regards to PR and marketing. As one female journalist puts it, "The commercial advent of women in rock in the '90s has been a boon to female artists as well as the media that love them" (Gardner, 1999 Online).

The women in rock label is important in illustrating the tensions for women performers in labelling themselves 'women' in any overt way. Women in rock

70 It must also be said that there is a lack of obvious mainstream strategies to counter this situation. While there have been and continue to be attempts at local and community levels to encourage women into both performance and technical musical roles these attempts are hardly enough to challenge the upper reaches of the industry. On a more individual level some female performers have championed other women to be involved in video production and other roles related to their image, however on a musical front there is still an obvious gender disparity at the recording and performing level. This is a consequence of discourses of individuality and authenticity rather than a personal lack of feminist insight.

183 indicates a community identity which is important to trace, especially in relation to feminism and how it is represented. In fact, a recent Rolling Stone edition was given over almost entirely to the tracing of such a history (Hirshey,

1997b). Similarly the cable music channel VH1 broadcast a special group of programs entitled The 100 Greatest Women In Rock, as a follow up to their previous years The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time (Gardner, 1999 Online). This is both a recognition of women's contribution to popular music as artists and an admission of the marginal position of women within the everyday representations of musical identities of consequence. The label women in rock can have at least two contradictory meanings and consequences, depending on the context and tone of its use. It can often allude to female community, and a similarity in expression/point-of-view in a positive way. It also is used to separate marginalised forms of female musical performances from mainstream ones. Thus a band like L7, playing within a dominated male genre of alternative rock, verbally articulate gender neutrality in interviews, while their performance undermines this neutral position through various practices, both musical and extra-musical.

Riot Grrrls/Rebel Grrrls

The riot grrrl label is one that has come into use within the music media and has taken on different connotations than were originally connected with it. Originally an alternative "...radical female youth culture..." (Kearney, 1998:148) started in the city of Olympia, , the term has come to be used to represent a feminist attitude and /or a female punk-rock sound. In its negative uses riot grrrl becomes another way of articulating old anti-feminist stereotypes. In a positive vein is it used to indicate the incorporation of women into a male dominated world of rebellious rock. In fact, riot grrrl fits well into a rock discourse of anti-establishment identification. Thus the old patriarchal

184 rock values of male freedom and non-conformity have been turned on their head, through the use of a punk do-it-yourself attitude, and used to a feminist advantage. The original riot grrrl movement claimed a radical counter status while maintaining feminine elements usually purged from the traditional male band community. This approach is exemplified in the "...spelling of

Grrrl...meant to subvert the image of girlhood innocence and evoke an angry grrrowl" (Orr, 1997 Online).

The term riot grrrl signifies both a break from second wave feminism and a continuation of feminist activity through appropriation. Bayton explains the label as "...a recuperation of the term 'girl' against the politically correct (yet now tame) 'woman' of their mother's feminist generation, but with a new spelling that turned it into a growl of feminist anger" (Bayton, 1998:75). Here again we see the theme of differentiation between second and third wave feminism. By challenging and appropriating the patriarchal constructions of female childhood and adolescence (see Kearney, 1998), symbolised in the riot grrrl label, the movement was also stretching and changing feminism as an image and a practice. It fuses together female adolescence and rebellion as a point of view from which to identify and to challenge both patriarchal and institutionalised feminist discourses.

The movement was started by a group of young women interested in nurturing others to play music. In this way the movement has similar aspirations to

'women's music' of the 1970s and early 80s (see Stein, 1994:16-19). However, the music that the riot grrrl bands played was inspired by the punk music of the

1970s, not in the traditions of folk social protest:

...riot grrrls are avowedly underground, devoted to recording on indie labels. Regardless of the rock cognoscenti's smug dismissal of their music as uncompelling and unprofessional, bands like , and their cohorts...have sparked a new generation's interest in feminism

185 and reopened the discussion on women in music and the industry (, 1993:27).

The riot grrrl movement is important to note when discussing women in rock in the 1990s and feminism. Now that the mainstream media has caught up with this movement, the label 'riot grrrl' and derivatives of it are now common currency to describe women in contemporary music who are different, or who do not seem to conform to traditional feminine stereotypes of female musical performance. Hole, L7, P.J. Harvey, Courtney Love, Sinead O'Connor and

Morissette have all been described in terms of or at least compared to a riot grrrl attitude. The definition of the term has became more flexible in relation to musical style as it is now being used to frame the popular debates around women in popular music. Since the success of performers like Alanis

Morissette, the label is used to establish a commercial/non-commercial debate about feminism in rock, with riot grrrl representing an authentic rebellion that has been imitated and appropriated by the commercial industry. This is intensified for those performers who have started their musical life as studio based pop singers:

...Morissette claims she hasn't encountered much cynicism. Hasn't she heard anyone call her a poseur, a prefab riot-grrrl substitute? ... Morissette says she has been far too busy on the road to notice being slagged off for any irony deficiency...She believes critics will get past her pop-diva past and is heartened by both Tori Amos' ability to move on from her metallic pop-tart days...and 's post-Wham! artistic evolution (Wild, 1995a:95).

In fact, the diffusion in the use of the label to represent both alternative and mainstream /commercially successful female performers is noted by another rock critic as part of a second wave of riot grrrl, using the more generalised term "grrrl rock". In regards to Morissette she writes:

186 Along with counterparts Jewel and , Alanis Morissette was one of the most successful singer/songwriters to ride on the second wave of grrrl rock in the mid-'90s (Cramer, n.d. Online)

Although this term has obvious alternative cache, many women performers are irritated by this label as it actually refers to quite a small number of women from a particular time and place. Women who have been performing since before the rise of riot grrrl feel that the linking of them to this movement undermines their individuality and history of performance (see France, 1992:28 and Bayton, 1998:76).71 Like the term women in rock, there is a fear that the categorisation of the diversity of female performed music into riot grrrl will again construct a simple equation between music and gender. Yet the term riot grrrl and its spin-offs have also made it possible for a female audience to identify certain musical and political tastes as well as form communities on the basis of such tastes. For example, there are many newsgroups and websites that promote and encourage such female communities and tend to use the labels "grrrl", "rock grrrl", "rebel grrrls" to signify female bands orientated towards rock sounds.72 For example, on [email protected] the welcome message explains itself as a list "...that discusses female bands like bikini kill, hole, L7, babes in toyland etc." (Welcome to grrrl bands, [email protected], 23/10/98). Many of the bands listed and talked about are not strictly riot grrrl bands (for example Hole have completely disassociated themselves from the movement, while L7 have never seen themselves as part of the movement), however, the significance of the general appropriation of riot grrrl aesthetics and politics needs to be acknowledged, not just as a media tactic but as a process happening at an audience level, whether individual bands and performers identify with it or not.

71 To many women, performing in rock genre and being labelled 'riot grrrl' masks many of the years that they have spent evolving and working as musical performers. For example, while L7 are described as "...righteous riot grrrls" (Rolling Stone 1994:124) the members of the band reject almost any label that refers to their gender. 72 For example see www.riotgrrrl.org and www.rockgrl.com.

187 Certainly, riot grrrl and the spin-off labels carry with them feminist meanings.

Sinead O'Connor's early recordings and activities are described in Spin

Magazine as a "proto-riot grrrl" (Walters, 1999:142):

O'Connor got herself into trouble not just because of her beliefs, but because she had the audacity to act on them in ways few female entertainers ever had. Combined with her shaved head and the raw power of her singing voice, she scared the shit out of people (Walters, 1999:142).

The notion of riot grrrl as a performance style that carries characteristics of independence, power, rebellion and even 'uglification' is articulated above. But these elements of feminist consciousness and practices are also countered by journalistic profiles that seek to re-establish the feminine through opposing musical performance with the 'real' woman. This is seen in the representations of Morissette, especially since her album Former Infatuation Junkie which, among other things, deals with issues of spirituality and self-acceptance. However, even before this album was produced her oppositional personas were being played out:

...isn't it ironic that the woman crowned as queen of the angry young women of rock seems in real life to be a soft-spoken and peace-loving spiritual dreamer? (Meyer, 1996 Online).

This discourse of normalisation has already been examined in regards to the construction of femininity. In this case Morissette's feminist 'non-feminine' traits are constructed as mere performance while her femininity is presented as

'real' and 'natural'. Morissette is not really the rebellious and angry woman she portrays in her songs and vocalisations. However, this rebellious status, although undermined by the above representations, has given her currency as a relevant female role model for her young female audience. Her rebellious status is not only often understood through illusion to riot grrrl but more frequently

188 in regard to the expression of anger, which brings us to another label, 'the angry young woman'.

Angry Women

Riot grrrl and the appropriation of the term, in various other guises, is used because it indicates, among other things, anger, violence, and aggression. The

'angry woman' is a persona that characterises female performers as emotionally

independent, loud, traditionally unfeminine and aggressive in orientation to

men. Like riot grrrl, the representation of this label is a double edged sword

because it can both endow the performer with a rock authenticity of rebellion

and creativity and/or position her as a feminist stereotype; a male hating,

irrational, overly serious, delusional victim of marginal relevance.

Anger is an emotion, however, when women 'perform' this emotion we must

be aware of the patriarchal history of conceptualising women as bodies and

men as minds. Women and emotion are often naturalised together so this label

contains some contradictions and elements of tension for women who are

symbolised through it. On the one hand, emotionalism in common-sense

discourse is often associated with the authentic, that is, the expression of the

'real' self. On the other, it is also a stereotyped sign of femininity and thus

weakness. Femininity has long been constructed as susceptible to emotionalism

by framing feminine emotions as a bodily/biological reaction rather than a

cognitive 'rational' process (Nehring, 1997:110). Therefore, the label 'angry

woman' is by no means a simple identity that is rewarded with either respect or

condescension.

189 One performer who has been most frequently labelled 'angry young woman' is

Alanis Morissette. This performance persona has emerged from her multi- platinum album Jagged Little Pill, described as an album of "... personal and angry songs..."(Freedom, n.d. Online). In many profiles since this album

Morissette's anger is commented on over and over again:

In much the same cathartic manner that Courtney Love summoned up on Hole's , Morissette laid out all her fears and secret rage: anger as an energy (Chelsea, 1996:14).

In particular, the single 'You Oughta Know' became the focus of this identity

"...Morissette vented her anger at an ex-lover who dumped her for another woman. With its bitter recriminations, reference to oral sex and use of the F- word, You Oughta Know grabbed the pop chart and shook it by the scruff of its neck" (Thomas, 1996:22). Morissette's status is seen as unique, in terms of women's past attempts to participate in rock, as she 'forced' the media to construct a new category which broke patriarchal taboos by going outside of the past female stereotypes of folky singer/songwriter or the 'rock-chic' sex- object:

Rock critics, perplexed by an intelligent, intense performer who shunned the usual "rock-chick" imagery, went as far as to invent a new genre - called Angry Young Women - and made Morissette its flag bearer (Thomas, 1996:22).

Whatever the origins of the label it certainly has become part of an representational repertoire of music media journalists. Yet it is not so much the fact that this label has emerged which is so interesting but how it is used and the different meanings it constructs for a feminist identity. For example, sometimes the power represented by anger is undermined by the mobilisation of a crazy or mad identity, already explored in the previous chapters. Thus, feminine anger becomes both criticised and disregarded for its over-

190 emotionalism rather than its rebellion. As has been illustrated in the previous chapters, Morissette's impact and work has been criticised as excessive feminine over-emotionalism, which when combined with a feminist identity, constructs a historical stereotype of the 'nagging woman'.73

Besides these representations, Morissette's last two albums are often understood through a discourse of cynical commercialism, which is made meaningful through her musical and visual change from teenage pop singer to angry female rocker. The commercial success of Morissette's album Jagged Little

Pill, as argued by the most scathing media attacks, is evidence of her lack of authenticity. Furthermore, her female audience's taste is constructed as uncritical and as being easily persuaded in accepting her as a 'real' rock voice of anger and rebellion, "...like Madonna....before her, she has connected with millions of girls who enjoy that little frisson from packaged rebellion" (Zuel,

1996:2).

Whether viewed as a breakthrough or a commercial strategy, the 'angry young woman' label is now being displaced in the Morissette narrative by a discourse of maturation. Her album Former Infatuation Junkie, which proceeded Jagged

Little Pill was for some a more adult album, moving from outraged victim to self-criticism:

'Are You Still Mad'...is another song that seems initially to be in the angry- young-woman mould, featuring such lines as "Are you still mad that we slept together after we had ended it?' But again, the song has subtle edges that underscore the change in Morissette's outlook. Instead of pointing the finger at a former lover, Morissette is admitting her own imperfections (Hilburn, 1998 Online).

73 This vocalised 'nagging' is represented as inappropriate or dismissed as over-emotionalism because it is presumed to be directed at men.

191 In the above there is a sense of relief that she has moved on from her 'victim' position. Similarly, in the case of Sinead O'Connor her past 'madness', constructed through her performances of anger can be normalised through narratives of maturity and of profiles claiming to present the 'real' person behind the media hype:

Far from being a "Bald-headed banshee", as London tabloid The Sun once described her, the tiny woman with the enormous reputation for trouble, has been agreeable, thoughtful and unflappably calm. Eccentric, certainly, but not, apparently, nutty. It occurs to me I mightn't be talking to the right person (Herrick, 2000 Online).

Yet her new quieter, less angry style, for some critics, denotes a watering down of a more powerful and authentic message of rebellion:

The birth of O'Connor's second child and her own 30th birthday have seen her reach a degree of contentment at last, and her music has adjusted accordingly. Whatever the onstage rant or offstage controversy, her defence has always been that she was only being true to herself: angry equals angry music. And, while one must be very, very careful before wishing any more trouble in her, this formula means that better life equals worse music. On Monday she played nothing from her first album, , and she softened up the songs from her second. Mostly she played simple, repetitive , swaddled in thick cello, penny-whistle sounds from a keyboard, and layers of harmony from her four backing singers (Barber, 1997 Online)

Here her 'real' life mother status, and her age, is taken as a metaphor for maternal femininity, and is given as the reason for undermining her cutting edge status as a disruptive and controversial performer. In the general representation of her music as too soft, wrapped in musical layers like "swaddling" (a direct but rather archaic reference to mothering), the critic constructs a feminine sentimentality that counters the discourse of rebellious authenticity of her first album, "In the audience, couples hugged each other contentedly, and surely that's the worst reaction she's ever had" (Barber, 1997

Online).

192 To conclude, the 'angry woman' label has several different representational incarnations, which are usually seen as a substitute for a feminist identity. It is used to emphasise claims of feminism as an as extreme and sometimes deranged identity, as well as acknowledging the potential power and rights of women to act on 'un-feminine' emotions. It is sometimes contextualised as a fashionable position driven by commercial profit rather than 'real' audience identification. It also intertwines with a rock discourse of rebellion which both adds to a performer's authenticity as legitimate rock performer as well as confirming a rebellious feminist status, rejecting traditional femininity through the expression of violent and anti-social emotions.

Girl Power

Lastly, 'girl power' is a label that is attached to the more mainstream, higher selling pop groups of the late 1990s. Although very few of the performers mentioned here are directly categorised through it, it still needs to be mentioned as it straddles the debates concerning feminism and commercialism, and also relates to riot grrrl in that girl power, or grrrl power, has drawn on these more radical/alternative movements in creating a feminism that is commercially packaged. Girl power is a label that has emerged out of, and continues to be re-worked within, the mainstream music industry and media.

Girl power label originated with the arrival of the all-female vocal group the

Spice Girls..14 The highly commercial image and success of this group has stimulated both popular and academic debate about the relationship between

74 Many other girl groups have emerged both before and after the Spice Girls phenomenon, (e.g. Girlfriend, Bardot, Bewitched) yet none have gained the same commercial success and media coverage. Early 1980s performers like Madonna and Cyndi Lauper are clearly precursors to the notion of girl power and the celebration of girl culture. For example, Lauper's 'Girls Just Want to Have Fun' and 'She Bop' are lyrically anthems for female self-determination.

193 feminism/political consciousness and commodity capitalism. This debate can be summed up in the following description of the Spice Girls , "They try to look like Barbie and sound like " (Douglas, 1999:47).

As already discussed, the re-appropriation of the label 'girl' had already taken place within the radical riot grrrl movement. Thus girl power or grrrl power carries with it a mixture of commercial and alternative meanings. Yet girl power in the form of both the glossy commercial images/songs of the Spice

Girls or/and the rock and punk of riot grrrl has given space to a Utopian vision of adolescence and developing womanhood. In the case of the Spice Girls the vision is heterosexual, but accessible and fun:

...teenage girls can imagine a world where they can have love and respect, where boys desire them but won't mess with them. So while it's easy as pie to hold a group like the Spice Girls in contempt, we should be wary when music embraced by preteen girls in ridiculed. These girls are telling us that they want a voice, that they want someone to take them seriously, that they want to be worldly wise and optimistic at the same time. The Spice Girls tell them that feminism is necessary and fun (Douglas, 1999:48).

Girl power also denotes, like women in rock, a female community of pleasure and strength. In fact there is much more an emphasis on fun and pleasure than in the more serious women in rock label. In the context of the commercial marketing of girl power, and the discussion of exactly what it is, , former Spice Girls member, states that "It's like feminism, but you don't have to burn your bra. And the message is 'You can do what you want - look the way you want- as long as you believe in yourself" (quoted in Davies, 1999:66). Here the emphasis on freedom of self expression is juxtaposed with the label of feminism, making girl power a label that carries with it traditional feminist messages of self-reliance, female friendship, and sexual freedom, whilst also

194 containing the pleasures of feminine commodities including heterosexual romance, sexy fashions and a discourse of individualism.

The Spice Girls and the slogan of girl power has caused debate in feminist circles, concerning disagreements about the credibility of this power. Due to the highly commercial success of The Spice Girls, as well as their manufactured construction and use of traditional visual signs of femininity, the slogan "girl power" can be critiqued as simply an advertising tactic (Dibben, 1999:343). For example, a Tori Amos fan articulates this reading of the girl power label by differentiating Amos from such obvious commercialism:

I'm rocking out to right now - I love that song soooooooooooooo much, is has SUCH a good beat and melody and the echo effect is awesome and as an added bonus (as with *all* Tori songs, that's what I love about her music), the lyrics are very meaningful! No trite "girl power" here. A much more subtle, and more powerful way of putting it: "i am not your senorita...i am not from your tribe if you want inside her well, boy you'd better make her raspberry swirl"...(Subject: hi, [email protected], 29/8/99).

This fan suggests that while girl power may suggest a feminist reading, it is not of the same depth or artistic quality as Amos' own musical work. On the other hand, taking a postmodern approach, the success of girl power can be analysed as a positive, popular and fun representation of feminist politics, in contrast to the patriarchal stereotype of a feminist. "The Spice Girls are bright, powerful and aggressive women, offering an alternative to the muesli , autumn- toned, oatmeal scrubbed Body Shop feminism" (Brabazon and Evans, 1998:41). However, girl power is a label for feminism which carries with it the contradictions that young girls and women face in today's Western culture, "Girls today are being urged, simultaneously, to be independent, assertive, and achievement orientated, yet also demure, attractive, soft-spoken, fifteen pounds underweight, and deferential to men" (Douglas, 1999:48). Girl power

195 represents these contradictory values in a popular commercial mix, which draws on a generalised of equality, while taking pleasure in commercial/popular trappings of a feminine lifestyle. As Nicola Dibben's analysis of The Spice Girls suggests: "...while on the one hand 'Girl power' offers an empowering image of female identity, on the other hand it sustains patriarchal constructions of femininity by pandering to the male gaze"

(1999:344).

In relation to the performers studied for this thesis, the development of this label has meant that we need to consider the way the appropriation of the label

"girl" in both the "riot grrrl" label and the popular slogan "girl power" can create a feminist reading around performers. By labelling women as girls and using child related metaphors of size and image, the music press is able to patronise and devalue the seriousness of their work and presence in the music industry. Yet the emergence of girl power and riot grrrl has significantly challenged the possible meanings/readings of these representations. Girl power, like riot grrrl, has become short hand for a feminist style within musical popular culture. Whether read as simply a commercial marketing strategy or a significant re-emergence of feminism as a popular and fun identity, girl power has certainly become ubiquitous in the vocabulary of popular media commentary.

Strategies of Identification and Practice

Various performers have already been used to illustrate the representation of feminism in the music media. This section seeks to expand on these issues to analyse the way performers negotiate their relationship to a political feminist identity. It can be seen from representations of female performers such as

196 Sinead O'Connor and Alanis Morissette, that making clear feminist meanings and finding direct feminist identification is difficult. Yet even so, this does not mean that feminism as a set of values, practices, and ultimately identifications, has withdrawn completely from popular culture. The labels used by the media act as stand ins for a feminist identity in both positive and negative ways. These labels are used and circulated because, like the devaluation of femininity in the discourse of patriarchal authenticity, feminism can often be seen as a liability.

The different performances and persona styles of the performers covered in this thesis, reflect various possible feminist representations for the audience and for feminisms to identify with. This section deals with some of these differences, and the theoretical questions and positions they highlight.

One of the strategies of female performers and fans, in the push for gender neutrality, is the rejection of the label 'feminism' as it indicates a female group identity which, when individually articulated, can be detrimental to a status of authentic creative identity. However, the rejection of the label of feminism is by no way evidence that a feminist reading and identification may not be available to audiences and other female musicians. As P.J. Harvey is quoted as saying, it is action rather than labels that she is interested in: it's quite simple,..! wouldn't call myself a feminist because I don't understand the term or the baggage it takes along with it, and I don't feel the need to do that. I'd much rather just get on and do things the way I have been doing them. Sometimes it seems to me that too much can be talked about and not enough done (Harvey quoted in Scanlon, 1993:23).

What is significant about this quotation is that is captures an attitude that is pervasive within many of the female performers representations of themselves, at least at a public level. The actions of female performers often represent their feminist convictions and identity more than any direct discussions of the issue.

P.J. Harvey is represented as a 'strong' female musician with all the feminist

197 and alternative hallmarks, "Whether she calls herself a feminist or not, P.J.

Harvey is a strong role model for other women" (Scanlon, 1993:23).

However, the label of feminist/feminism is again and again rejected in overt and more subtle ways by female performers who see it as undermining their individuality and also their credibility or authenticity within a rock discourse.

P.J. Harvey, although more often than not understood as a feminist role-model, continually deflects being labelled by drawing on the position of artist. She states, "Feminism is just not something I have really come up against and something I find a distraction when you could be doing your own thing and going for it" (Harvey quoted in Billen, 1995:10A). No matter how Harvey positions herself as undeserving or uninterested in the label of feminist or unique woman in rock, the fact that the media representations continue to attribute such an identity to her is significant (see Dwyers, 1995; Billen, 1995,

Scanlon, 1993).

Yet as a subjectivity the feminist ultimately stands for the category 'women' and like the other labels which point to a female community it is thus often rejected as unnecessary in contemporary music making and performing.

Gottlieb and Wald consider that there is a struggle going on between the media who want to define and categorise performers, and the performers themselves who often reject gendered categories as undermining their status and freedom as individual performers:

For these women, such journalistic categorizations carry with them unwelcome baggage - of the trivializing model of Phil Specter-type "girl groups," for one - and the danger that once identified and labeled, their music will become faddish, or worse, ultimately cliched or passe (Gottlieb and Wald, 1994:254).

198 P.J. Harvey explains her work by mobilising her artistic identity through a discourse of individualism. Asked what her music means, if not a feminist attitude, she says, "Lyrically it is much more to do with confusion and frustration and being unsettled and unhappiness" (Harvey quoted in Billen,

1995:10A). Her themes are explained as universal, relevant to anyone, not just women. But this neutral status is difficult to maintain. In the case of the group

L7, their commitment to feminist related extra-musical activities have made it impossible not to identify with the term, although L7 try to separate their feminist identity from their performances. Thus even when women performers are prepared to label themselves 'feminist', there is often a sense of ambivalence about taking it as their main identity:

We happen to be feminist, but that's not the basis of the band. I think any woman who is in the work place is lying to herself if she doesn't call herself a feminist. It's kinda like a black person saying they're not into black power (Sparks quoted in Joy, 1992 Online).

This reluctance to identify oneself as a feminist is represented quite frequently in many media interviews. For example, even though O'Connor represents, through her own political actions and musical texts, a concern with female oppression, she is reluctant or reticent about taking up the label 'feminist', "I don't like - isms or ists of any kind; I don't like labels, but, yeah, I am a feminist" (O'Connor quoted in Goldman, 1997:98).

For L7, feminism is a clear political commitment which is a necessity and which is articulated through a liberalism of equality, even through they may feel that the media uses it to emphasis their differences rather than their equality.

Courtney Love, on the other hand consciously acknowledges a strategy that involves re-appropriating the feminine rather than rejecting or marginalising it.

Although there are contradictions and inconsistencies in her quoted opinions,

Love represents a 'new' feminism of difference that questions the dominant

199 values placed on gendered popular culture. For example, in one interview she criticises the use of androgyny by female performers:

...I've noticed that a lot of girls in bands will do this whole androgynous thing, and even though sometimes I think it's natural, other times I think it's a way of them saying: "Look, there's something wrong. There is a weakness in the female character, so I'm going to cover it up and I'm going to create this masculine persona." That's sort of what P.J. Harvey does. I mean I love P.J. Harvey, but fuck that, I am not just like a guy (Love quoted in Des Barres, 1995:203).

The understanding of women as different and the valuing of this difference crops up again and again in Love interviews. She calls herself a feminist (Dune, 1997:84) but she articulates this feminism as acknowledging difference. Love says, "I am, I guess, a 'feministe'. Militant, but I recognise nature and the difference between us" (Love, 1995:31). Although Love's feminist position has problems of essentialism, her position means she is able to speak of the experiential differences between men and women. By appropriating femininity Love has not simply used feminine fashions as a normalising attraction, but has juxtaposed traditional femininity with other feminist and masculine elements.

These representations disrupt a patriarchal gaze in that she offers other possible readings for a female audience. In fact, Love's performance persona, visually and sonically, has been understood as a performance of "...ugliness and resistance" (Eileraas, 1997 Online) described as:

...as an intentional deviation from "nice, gentle, pretty" ways of looking, talking, behaving, and visualizing. Contemporary girl bands deploy "ugliness" as a resistant practice that challenge cultural representations of "pretty" femininity (Eileraas, 1997 Online).

Courtney Love's 'kinder whore' persona deconstructs the past positions available for white women in rock, either as the unproblematic rock sex-object or the tomboy rocker who plays-down her sexuality, and re-appropriates female adolescence and youth culture as both pleasurable and destructive.

200 Love's connection and early support of the riot grrrl movement/ideas can be seen in the images, music and lyrical themes of Hole's first two albums.

In the period between Hole's second and third album, Love appeared in a supporting role in The People vs Larry Flint and her image became more

fashionable. She was photographed wearing designer clothes to Hollywood award nights, with her challenging alternative style being seen as part of a

more authentic past, "Once an icon of uncompromising female rage, she now seemed grasping and shallow, hungering for fame and acceptance as a movie

star..."(Weiss, 1998:94). One posting on the rebelgrrrl group calls "The new

'improved' Hole...Pop crap" (Subject Re: Puff Daddy, [email protected],

2/9/99). The beautification of Love's image meant a further destabilisation of

her political status, and brought with it fresh ambiguity about her 'real' identity as an authentic feminist/female role model for rebellion.

However, Hole's new sound and image does not cancel out the critique of feminine beauty and the contradictions of the female body as both other and as

patriarchal object of desire:

Whatever Love's future, she has already achieved..[an]...impact. She's also become one of our culture's most compelling, and most contradictory, stars, at once attacking and embracing the "sickness" of the beauty queen....Love has repeatedly flown in the face of a world that sometimes loathes what she represents; at her most effective, she's made "ugly" appear powerful and revealed "pretty" as suspect. The conventions binding women in rock, and female icons in general, should only be questioned in her roaring wake (Dieckman, 1997:473).

In some ways Love is similar to Madonna in that she has embraced a new slender body to express a recognisable femininity of glamour and

beautification. Both these women are symbolic of a painful and difficult

struggle to create an acceptable image for a commercial market, and maintain a

201 representation of power and agency. Unlike Madonna's dance orientated 'fun girl' of her early singles, Love's strategy of uglification was shocking and clearly unable to be fully appropriated into a sex-object discourse of femininity.

Performers who have used an androgynous strategy, deploying gender neutral images and political alignments, both strengthen the meaning of feminism as appropriating the male public world for women, and weaken a reading of feminism as the celebration of femininity, in all its guises. The re-appropriation of the feminine, on the other hand, struggles to re-evaluate femininity in a context that is often hostile to this re-evaluation, and thus opposes patriarchal normalisation. Performances which investigate the stereotypes of femininity and thus risk being read by some audiences as those very stereotypes they may be trying to challenge (Eileraas, 1997 Online).

Fan Talk

The complications and contradictions in designating specific feminist subjectivity is reflected in the various discussions and debates on the internet in regard to female performance. In general there is very little direct discussion of feminism as a identity. Because fan talk is essentially informal and wide ranging in interest and topic, it is almost impossible to point to direct discussions about feminism and identity online. This does not mean that feminist ideas are not aired and debated. For example, the exchange below, concerning Courtney Love's status, clearly illustrates a feminist debates about feminism, identity and social action:

>People bash Queen Courtney because our society has always been >scared of strong, intelligent who wont take other peoples >crap! there..is nothing wrong with strong women...er..womyn..but she really is in the wrong business..if she is so strong and influential why doesn't she go out and fight for something like...baby seals...instead of sitting on her

202 ass smoking crack all day...(Subject Re: Hole is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!, alt.music.alternative.female, 15/10/95).

The expression of performers as powerful, aggressive and unafraid to voice an opinion can be read as an indication of a possible feminist identity, recognised by fans:

...the point of tori amos is that she is not afraid to do things that are not accepted as suitable in everyday society, and her way of expressing it is beautiful and powerful (Subject Re: Tori Amos and BABE, alt.music.alternative.female, 26/2/96).

This post connects strongly with the discourse on the role of the artist as outside of, or opposed to society. A discourse of individualism is mobilised to head off any obvious feminist labelling, yet it also leaves such a reading open in the connection between rebellion, power and self-expression. Thus, part of an expression of difference to mainstream society, incorporated in the artist's identity, can be and is used to articulate feminist identity. However, it is certainly not clear cut rather, these expressions of difference can lend themselves to a feminist reading.75

Annie Lennox represents a feminism that is more clearly articulated by fans because of her androgyny and her performance in the anthem 'Sisters Are

Doin' It For Themselves'. In a rather comic discussion where one fan explains how a particular live version of a Eurythmics song "...calls to mind the funky, alien of Jabba's band in Return of the Jedi" another replies:

...interesting observation Andrew...I guess they could perform for Jabba the Hut, but regarding Annie's strong stance on women's rights I doubt she'd subject herself to Jabba's sexist attitude (Subject Re: For Fun, [email protected],* 5/3/99).

75 Of course without asking fans directly about their conscious feminist readings, which this research did not do, it is difficult to say with any certainty the extent to which these fans would positively use the label feminist.

203 Another fan responds concerning the black tight fitting outfit Lennox wears in the video for the song 'Missionary Man':

I don't know, that outfit in "Missionary Man" kinda looked like something that Darth Vader would Appreciate...but you're right its not skimpy enough for Jabba's tastes. Well, Dave knows , maybe she has that metal bikini lying around someplace...No wait, I think she loaned it to Madonna for her next tour (Subject Re: For fun, [email protected],* 5/3/99).

This is obviously not a 'serious' discussion on feminist identity, yet it does articulate some subtle points about how Lennox fans perceive feminism as a position from which to speak. The comments about Lennox's image are important as they suggest that while Lennox can have a sexy image, it is one which is read as powerful and self-constructed. Lennox is subtly compared to

Madonna and found to be unprepared, unlike Madonna, to sell her sexuality quite so blatantly. The bikini is more revealing than the black jumpsuit, and is thus much more open to criticisms of a patriarchal identity. This more generally relates to the euphemistic statements about public women as role-models.

Again, this is a way of avoiding the label feminism while articulating certain women as having positive characteristics such as individuality, independence and professionalism:

...Annie is a role model for me because she is one of the only musical artists who hasn't sold out in my view...I think that growing up Annie was a great role model of a strong woman, and that she remains so (Subject Re: That special something, [email protected], 12/1/99)

It is more than her visual image that has positioned her for both fans and the media as a positive female role model. A fan describes the first experience of

Annie Lennox in concert:

204 I'll never forget my first sight of Annie: a strikingly beautiful woman with cropped orange hair, sporting a dramatic red slash of paint across her blue eyes, red that eventually dripped like blood as she perspired thruout (sic) the concert. I was captivated by her commanding, almost angry aura and mesmerising, soulful singing style. Their unique sound plus her amazing voice & presence has quite an impact & I've gone to their concerts whenever & wherever I could ever since (Subject Re: Favourite Bootleg, [email protected], 10/3/99).

Despite the ambiguity of claiming a consciously feminist reading by fans there have been times in my internet research when feminist issues have been articulated unambiguously. This happened when Tori Amos got married and a thread discussion started speculating as to whether she would change her surname or not. This discussion took on a life of its own (like most thread discussions) and quickly turned into a general free-for-all:

Okay this might piss a few people off. But, I totally feel that Tori has spurned the term feminist just because of the bad connotations that have been stuck on the label by society and, most likely, the very Patriarchy who oppose feminism. (Hrn..seems like a paradox that I loathe the word feminine, yet call myself a feminist *grin*). Anyway, every interview I've read with her that says something about feminism, she paints feminists to be man-haters or "professional victims". While I do agree that *some* feminists give us all a bad name, is this not exactly what the Patriarchy wants us to believe? That being a feminist is a bad thing? I think so. And I also think therein lies Tori's reluctance to embrace the term, even though she *is* a feminist for she believes in equal rights for women (Subject Re: - I - feminism and surnames, was Re: Tori's new name?, alt. fan.madonna, 13/3/98).

This post articulates many of the points this research has already made. It shows quite clearly that a female fan can be critical of the opinions of a female performer, while still labelling herself a feminist and a fan by separating feminist beliefs and practices from the label. However, the ambiguity and contradictions in verbalising such a position is clear in the kinds of 'alternative' labels expressed by the media, and the absence of any obvious feminist discourse which names itself as such within fan discussions.

205 Conclusion

The media and fans mobilise various labels to construct feminism as a recognisable subject position from which certain performers can be represented.

Girl power, the 'issue' of women in rock, the angry young woman persona, and the riot grrrl re-appropriation of girlhood as rebellious all negotiate and resist femininity as a normalised set of patriarchal expectations. However, the fear of feminism as a representational category is still a message that can be read within the media, in the tentative feminist statements, and even the rejection of a conscious self identification by performers within the public domain.

Patriarchal notions of acceptable femininity and a capitalist ideology of individualism remain powerful discourses of normalisation within the representation narratives of female popular performance.

The next chapter deepens the analysis of feminism as a subject position through a deconstruction of the representation of musical elements, such as the singers vocality, as authentically feminist, non-feminist, 'new' feminist, and/or commodified feminist.

206 CHAPTER SIX

FEMINISM PART 2: FEMINIST VOICES, FEMINIST DIVAS

Introduction

This chapter continues with the theme of the construction of feminist identity within popular culture, narrowing the theme down to the representation of the musical performance. Cultural studies and feminist scholars have searched for a feminist aesthetic in the pop music world mostly through the visual elements of the music video and the visual images of the performer (for example see

Kaplan, 1987; Roberts 1996). Although the visual codes are important in making meanings, and in the representational world of the music industry, the music itself also has a profound effect on signification. In recent years, with the rise of popular music studies, this gap is certainly being filled with the analysis of the popular music text (see Brackett, 1995; Moore, 1993; Shepherd, 1991). However this chapter is not primarily concerned with presenting a feminist reading through a direct analysis of the songs of each performer. Rather, following

Chapter Four, an analysis is made of the media and fan representations of the musical elements which construct a possible feminist aesthetic.

The power relations which construct aesthetic values, and the way patriarchal, and feminist discourses, work to construct a feminist identity through musical performers is the focus of this chapter. Although there is not one 'true' feminist aesthetic static for all time, various interests struggle to stabilise and fix feminism as a certain set of musical elements. In these struggles and negotiations feminism is often made meaningful through the concepts of

207 authenticity/inauthenticity, with this scale being based on different criterion depending upon the context. Individuality may be a major criterion, with feminist role models being seen as breaking away from a 'normal' and conservative female performance. It may also be judged on the acknowledgment of a collective point-of-view, that is on representing women as a category. Along with this dichotomy of individuality/community are others which play a part in constructing feminist subjectivity including natural/unnatural, creative/commercial, public/private voice, and

'real'/performance self. At various times and place these tensions come into play in constructing a feminist aesthetic/musicality.

The dichotomies listed are by no means easily identified with either a feminist or anti-feminist discourse. For example, the role of the diva, introduced in previous chapters, can be positioned both as 'natural' (though her voice as her bodily instrument) as well as 'un-naturaT (because of her vocal range and power). There are many contradictions and tensions between these oppositions which challenge the notion of a stable, fixed feminist identity, and undermine an unambiguous feminist reading of musical texts. There is also a process of normalisation which has a tendency to either weigh feminism negatively against a 'normal' femininity or to marginalise feminism as a communal /community practice and a collective identity which is represented as too narrow to be of 'universal' interest or relevance. In the following discussion, these dichotomies, tensions and tendencies are exemplified through the way the media and fans code feminism in terms of the recognition of genre and the representation of vocality.

208 Representing Feminist Genres

One of the most obvious and broad areas to analyse is that of genre and the way that the rock/pop divide, already discussed, comes into play in the construction of feminism in popular music. For women, being labelled as 'rock' performers opens up a potential feminist reading. Firstly, this is because of the lack of female participation in rock styles such as heavy metal, thrash, punk and grunge. Secondly because rock, no matter what musical style it is associated with, stands for a set of authentic criterion based on masculinised values.

Feminist and music critics alike still see the genre of rock as a path to equality and authenticity, and regularly represent women as feminists forging equality through their mere presence in the rock world. For example, L7 attract respect and attention because of their position as 'women in a man's world':

That crash you hear is the sound of stereotypes shattering. L7 is well known as the top all-female metal band, but its unconquerable new album, Hungry for Stink..., vaults the group into a larger category: Now L7 are one of the top hard-rocking bands of any kind, gender be damned (Sandow, 1994 Online).

This quote not only exemplifies a feminist reading of women in rock but also articulates the contradictions. There is a clear tension running through this equation made between musical genre and feminist attitude. This tension comes down to a struggle between 'equal' musical evaluation and political identity, which for many female performers becomes a stress on gender transcendence. Women position themselves in various ways to transcend the category of women, by either rejecting it as a category of difference, or putting it as secondary in significance to other subject positions. For women participants in an obvious rock genre, a feminist reading can be both encouraged and understated by this tension:

209 Being a chick band has been the cross L7 (often crankily) bears: "We hate when people make gender into a genre" has become their interview mantra. But with their first full-length album, 1992's Brick Are Heavy, and its recently released follow-up, Hungry for Stink, the band has begun to crawl out of their pigeonhole. And review have marked them as the feat's breakout act, gender be damned (Hajari, 1994 Online).

Rock as a generic label is not simply attached to actual musical styles, rather it

is used to designate music as a popular and authentic medium. Yet even when

rock is used to refer to a history of popular music it still tends to exclude

women.76 Rock is more often than not used to refer to an authentic artistic

status which is musically significant. Women who are included in rock, are

positioned as unique women who have gone against the norm and have

attained honorary masculine positions as musical identities, as well as being

potential feminist icons because of their rejection of feminine musical styles. In

fact, where genre is obviously connected to musical style, one feminist

argument has been that rock is potentially a feminist forms because it is already

associated with rebellion and overt displays of sexuality as part of a resistance

against parental and other institutional controls, including the family, the

media and the church. Although Gottlieb and Wald realise that its

appropriation has some risks they still maintain its feminist potential:

Despite the fact that punk and hardcore have provided a forum for such , rock's, and especially punk's, foregrounding of a potent combination of sex and anger opens a fertile space both for women's feminist interventions and for the politicization of sexuality and female identity (Gottlieb and Wald, 1994:253).

There is a recognition in much feminist analysis that rock provides an

oppositional space for women. Often the apparently recognisable feminine

genres of the past are considered in opposition to the 'real' feminist issue of

76 In 1986 when the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was founded no women were included in the performers to whom tribute was paid (Leuck, 1992:225). This small incident reflect the larger problem of female recognition and access to positive evaluation.

210 women appropriating the masculine power of rock. Margo Mifflin, former band member of a group called Barefoot and Pregnant, suggests that in the 1980s women's withdrawal from rock genres was a real step backwards in the struggle for women's rights and what she calls "musical freedom":

Despite occasional magazine articles celebrating the changing roles of women in rock and pop, the progress of feminism in the industry was negligible in the '80s. In fact, we enjoyed more musical freedom and diversity in the '70s than we do now. The "new" image of women in rock - tough, serious, potentially threatening - applies to looks, not art. It's okay to be a nappy-headed or a hairy-legged , as long as you're a gentle folkie singing about moral integrity in a reassuringly feminine voice. No raspy Janis Joplinisms or Patti Smith allowed...(Mifflin, 1990:14).

Although Mifflin was writing from the experience of the 1980s, critics in the

1990s continued to see the representation of potential feminist meanings

through divisions of sound. The male dominated genres of rock and rap have

been seen as providing opportunities for women to make their own music, that

is as authors of their own lyrics and music. The pop female singer seen as

creatively marginal to the likes of Lennon, and bands like The Rolling Stones (see

Stewart, 1989: 284-285). However, these kinds of analyses tend to de-value the

history of women in pop and to ignore the possible pleasures and power of

those performances, a point which will be examined in the next chapter. What

is a central to highlight at this point, is the way rock (as an ambiguous musical

style) is assumed to be more liberating for women than other forms. Alan D.

Stewart argues, reviewing women in popular music in the 1980s, that there

have only been a few exceptions to women's -folk positions in

music:

The few exceptions, Aretha Franklin, or the Jefferson Airplane/Starship, and the most importantly, Janis Joplin, are basically the exceptions that prove the rule. Most other female artists performed simple, pleasant, polite folk-based music, served as front people for male creators and manipulators, or more frequently sang back-up for male

211 artists. Perhaps only consistently made records in a compelling, individual style over a long period of time that challenged the emotional power and complexity of important male artists and dealt with similar themes from a female perspective (Stewart, 1989:285).

In this analysis, and many popular discourses that run through rock fan talk and the music press, is the idea that "..rock music marks a kind of empowerment freeing them from past stereotypes and limits" (Stewart,

1989:286-287). The expectations attached to the genre and sound of particular musical styles have significance in the analysis of feminism and feminist identity in popular music. In the above explanation of female exceptions, the musical genre is used to measure both musical creativity and a challenging proto-feminist subjectivity. Both Grace Slick and Janis Joplin were literally women in a 'man's world' who sang and wrote songs in musical contexts dominated by male musicians, producers and engineers. Also the 1960s was the beginning of the discourse of authentic rock which blossomed in the music press, exemplified in titles like Rolling Stone. This discourse conceived of popular music through a high/low culture divide. Joplin in particular was and still is held up as an authentic singer and musician of her time, drawing on the blues, the ultimate authentic musical style, to convey her desire, pain and suffering.

Even in the late 1990s this simplistic separation between an authentic feminist, or proto-feminist, sound and a commercial femininity still existed. Thus the problem in trying to recognise feminism within popular music is that it often reproduces an opposition of authentic versus inauthentic feminism. Pop becomes a suspect vehicle for 'real' feminist sentiment, while rock, in whatever musical form, comes to represent the truest and most important feminist contributions. This raises the larger theoretical question of aesthetic form and values, and asks which, if any, can give women an alternative to patriarchal

212 representations. Although this is a significant question for many feminists and other media interests, the question I am pursuing is how and why some musical representations are made meaningful as feminist, non-feminist or anti- feminist positions.

From the discussion so far it can be seen, at least from a popular level, that feminism is more easily recognisable through rock genres. In the context of the

1990s, feminist expressions of the past and present, which used acoustic instrumentation and folk/ballad forms, can be represented as a limited and stereotyped feminist musical expression which is no longer relevant. In fact it is often seen as too socially acceptable to be significant. For example Fair, a travelling musical festival featuring only women performers, has come under attack for a lack of musical variety. L7 created a minor stir when they flew a banner over the concert grounds that read, "'Bored? Tired? Try L7'" (Morgan,

1999 Online). Band member Donita Sparks explained L7's reason for doing this,

"It's us doing our war on mediocrity. What bums me out about is it claims to be a celebration of women in music, but what it is really is a celebration of middle-of-the-road women on radio" (Sparks quoted in Morgan,

1999 Online). Interestingly, Lilith Fair is a consciously feminist festival, yet the music styles are seen as un-rebellious, middle-class and 'soft'. Lilith Fair can be read within a 1960s folk/rock discourse of social justice, which for some, like

L7, completely ignores the other women who have been working in different styles and approaches.

This division of musical genre relate back to the previous chapter which illustrated the way the media differentiates 'new' feminism from 'old'. In the ensuing feminist analyses of these divisions of feminism in 1990s it is suggested that the obvious protest songs of the 1960s and early 1970s are situated within a

213 folk, acoustic musical style while a feminist message today is not so stereotypically tied to genre:

A generation ago, pop music with any politics was rarely found outside the ranks of earnest folkies. Not to disrespect those earlier balladeers, but today politicised voice are loud and angry and everywhere (Saraco, 1996 Online).

The above certainly reflects a sense of growing freedom for women's expression within popular music through breaking out of a genre ghetto of folk/acoustic political protest. Yet even with these positive assessment of feminist attitudes in music, the question of representational freedom is still constructed around a rock/pop and commercial/art divide which is both difficult to maintain and essential for a rock discourse of individualism and creativity. Madonna exemplifies the ambiguity of measuring feminism through genre. In fact she illustrates the problem of fixing a feminist strategy of empowerment for women within a popular cultural context (see Kellner,

1995:287).77 Much of the debate has centred on Madonna's visual styles. It is only recently that cultural studies has attempted to read Madonna's meanings through the music (see Blake, 1993; McClary, 1991). In attending to the sonic text, it becomes significant that one of the reasons for the controversy surrounding her feminist position, at least in her early career, is partly to do with her use of dance pop, and traditional romance balladry, forms which are connected most obviously with commercial and feminine pop culture. It seems that it is no small coincidence that her musical authenticity became established through her album Like A Prayer, which incorporated more rock and black musical traditions (e.g. the use of gospel in the title track) as well as employing

77 Camille Paglia has been the most quoted female writer who has used Madonna as a symbol of feminist dissent describing her as the alternative future for feminism, a feminism apparently not about women as victims. "Madonna is the true feminist. She exposes the puritanism and suffocating ideology of American feminism, which is stuck in an adolescent whining mode. Madonna has taught young women to be fully female and sexual while still exercising total control over their lives. She shows girls how to be attractive, sensual, energetic, ambitious, aggressive and funny - all at the same time"(Paglia, 1993:168).

214 the rock tradition of the (see Blake, 1993). Subsequently she has been taken more seriously as an artist and as a woman with a 'genuine' message of feminist empowerment:

Opening with a sudden blast of stun-gun guitar, "Like a Prayer" seems at first like a struggle between the sacred and the profane as Madonna's voice is alternately driven by a jangling, bass-heavy riff and framed by an angelic aura of backing vocals. Madonna stokes the spiritual fires with a potent, high-gloss groove that eventually surrenders to gospel abandon (Considine, 1997:116)

Like A Prayer has gone down in Madonna's career as her most important artistic album and this change can be measured in both genre and lyrical seriousness.

The Considine review acknowledges this by noting the way in which the more obvious pop elements give way to a gospel-soul authenticity. Although there are certainly many pop coded elements and songs on this album, the sound and the 'confessional' trauma of some of the lyrics gave Madonna a new artistic standing which was expressed in a juxtaposition between her music and her visual body image, "As for her image, well, you may see her navel on the inner sleeve, but what you hear once you get inside the package is as close to art as pop music gets" (Considine, 1997:117).78 Madonna's growing significance as a potential feminist icon grew through the media's juxtaposition of Madonna's

'real' self with her sex-object image, illustrated above through the body/mind opposition which also represents her positioning as an authentic creative artist.

This creative authenticity can be linked to her feminist readings. For a mainstream reading of feminism the lyrical point-of-view of Madonna's voice adds to both her creative and feminist status with a song about ('Til Death do Us Part') and female empowerment ('Express Yourself).

The representation of Madonna as a successful artist is related to her feminist subjectivity. For example, reading her lyrics within a discourse of rock

78 An end of year review for Rolling Stone in 1989 repeats the narrative of Madonna as more than just a visual sex-object stating "...the cover art notwithstanding, it is a treat to find Madonna baring something other than her navel for a change" (Fricke, 1997:125).

215 authenticity in which the lyrics reflect Madonna's true self, sets up the representation of her as not simply a pop singer but a rock star who is in- control and independent in economic and artistic terms. As one reviewer states

"...lyrically it's moving, intelligent and candid" (Bradley, n.d. Online). These representations of a powerful truthful performer lead to possible feminist readings, however it is a feminism that is individualised and grounded in a capitalist discourse embodying, at the end of the 1980s when this album was produced, the 'new' woman, career orientated and successful in the public world (Lloyd, 1993:40).

Representing Feminist Divas

In the previous chapters the diva, or the role and representation of the popular female singer, was analysed because she has become the main recognisable role which women have accessed in the popular music realm. In dealing with the issue of feminist identity the diva is a symbol of contradictions. She may represent an abstract female strength, the victim of a male controlled industry, or even the perpetrator of continuing gender inequality. A mixture of the victim and the instigator of patriarchal inequality can be read in comments such as:

To be sure, there are many females in the music industry today that take advantage of and capitalize on society's concept of femininity. Today's "divas" are thin and beautiful, singing from within the framework of a male-dominated music industry. They do not play instruments, they do not run record labels, and often they do not even write their own songs. This speaks of female passivity that only serves to perpetuate stereotypes and biases about all women. Their primary job is to stand in front of a band and look pretty - singers like Madonna, Whitney Houston, and others continually recreate themselves into various aspects of stereotypical femininity (often playing up the virgin/whore dichotomy), the end result being that they are no more empowered by these constantly changing images, but always ultimately the object of the male gaze (Agustin and Lesh, n.d. Online).

216 These kinds of criticisms make it clear that feminism and a feminist message is a contested set of performance practices and roles. The diva symbolises these contradictions and negotiations, slipping between a feminist femininity and a patriarchal femininity. In a positive reading the diva title can be interpreted as a celebration of female artistry where the power of her voice is understood as an assertion of female identity and expression. The diva embodies, literally in her voice, the expression of both suffering and liberation for her audience. She also embodies power, both to express a message/emotional state and to be heard. In fact the diva's voice can translate as the very physical manifestation of a female agency.

P.J. Harvey represents for her fans a voice which is strong but also unique compared to a 'passive' feminine voice which characterises other female singers:

Anyway, I realized that I liked her so much because she epitomizes (to me, that is) what it is like to be a woman today. Her lyrics are so edgy and tough and feminine. I was happy to discover her, because with the exception of a few, so many female music artists are so 'barbie doll' with small squeaky female voices (Subject Re: look people....what do you think?, [email protected], 19/5/98).

The timbre and volume of her voice are put in to opposition with a commercial femininity. Here we start to see some of the contradictions and tensions in explaining or expressing feminism. The fan sees Harvey's work as expressing a female point-of-view, as well as expressing that view in coded masculine ways. Harvey is not a commodified object for a male gaze, nor is she an androgynous, un-gendered performer. Her feminist performance can be read through her oppositional positioning in relation to a passive, commodified vocal performance. Another fan articulated the complexity of Harvey's performance, expressing uncertainty, but also pleasure in her changing persona:

217 It took a while before i realised exactly what it is that I like about PJ harvey...i'm still not completely sure. I think a lot of it is the versitility [sic] she has...she can be a powerful war goddess in one song, and a broken child in the next. I dig that a lot. I like that she isn't afraid to be what suits the song...she doesn't force herself to be overly feminine because it's a rocker grrrl image, or to be locked into a courtney love esque "angry bitch" image either...I like the raw power in her voice...(Subject Re: Look people...what do you think?, [email protected], 19/5/98).

Part of understanding the representations of female vocalist as powerful relates to elements such as lyrics, genre, volume, control, register and the timbre or textures of her voice. The use of a loud voice for instance is seen as paralleled to an attitude of assertiveness, domination, and even anger, van Leeuwen talks about the importance of social distance which is both literally and metaphorically represented by the dynamic range of a voice or sound. He describes loudness as obtaining semiotic meaning "..from its relation to the desire or need for covering distance, which arises for instance when people want to dominate a large territory" (van Leeuwen, 1999:207). That is, the bigger the sound the more power is associated with it. In an analysis of P.J. Harvey's musical performance on the song 'Dress' Rachel Felder states:

The song's lyrical content...is filled with strength and almost confessional calculation. It's coy but plotting; it's an expression of a woman making a choice to put herself in power. But what really expresses this woman's power is her voice: darting and building and sometimes nearly yelling to command an audience. The bottom line is that you've got to listen. And so a simple story of getting dressed to be attractive turns from a submissive tale to an ode to who's in charge (Felder, 1994:197).

Discussion of Harvey in rock terminology place this reading of power parallel to a rock discourse of authenticity, constructing Harvey's voice as creative, self- determined (through her writing credits), and an immediate expression of 'real' and 'ugly' emotions of rage, hate, jealousy, etc. For feminist identity the association with a rock sound was and is strategic in forging both feminist and creative credentials. Yet the actual vocal elements of the authentic rock voice

218 are not easily listed. This is because rock as a descriptor is very wide and often refers to an ideological perspective rather than style per se. However there are a few generalisations we can make in understanding how this categorisation might be musically understood.

Rock singing as a style has been associated with male singers (e.g. Elvis, Mick

Jagger, Roger Daltry, , , Bono) since the 1960s.

This means that the designation of female singers as using a rock voice is often made in a comparison with a male canon, both explicitly and implicitly. The rock voice has come out of a Afro-American musical tradition where no institutionalised organisation for training and formally coding vocality existed.

It has developed vocal codes outside a Western tradition of tempered pitch, virtuosity in terms of vocal range, strict melodic notation and reproduction.

Back female jazz and blues singers have musically been situated as proto- feminist voices, adding to the feminist reading of the rock voice through a female history of black singers. Although these singers are not seen as part of the male rock music canon, developed in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, they certainly need to be acknowledged within a current musical analysis of a rock/authentic voice.

Whether the diva's voice is understood within a female or male tradition it cannot be denied that the vocality of rock singing, as opposed to pop, has most obviously been part of identifying a feminist vocality. In fact the rock voice, with its masculine codes, is positioned as a public voice of rebellion and action while the pop voice (whether used by men or women) has connotations of the private world of domesticity and feminine romance. Although this division of the rock/pop voice is quite arbitrary and contradictory it is still important to acknowledge because of the aesthetic values attached. For example, Jon

Shepherd describes a rock voice as having certain stereotyped timbres which he

219 describes as "...hard and rasping...produced overwhelmingly in the throat and mouth...The sound relies on a highly constructed use of the vocal chords..."

(Shepherd, 1991:167). He also note that these timbres relate to a discourse of individuality (168). When dealing with rock defined genres and aesthetic values, the dimension of rough/smooth is also applicable to understanding how feminism may be read as a particular aesthetic. A rough vocal timbre is associated, according to Lomax, "...with extremely marked and forced vocalizing" (1968:73). Because rock draws on Afro-American styles and musical history the rough voice is more highly valued than a smooth one. The rough voice has been placed in opposition to a classical trained Western voice (van Leeuwen, 1999:132). In these terms a rough quality:

...is the equivalent of the weatherbeaten face, the roughly plastered wall, the faded jeans, the battered leather jacket. The smooth voice is the vocal equivalent of unblemished young skin, polished surfaces, designer plastic, immaculate tuxedos (van Leeuwen, 1999:132).

The high valuing of the rough voice relates to a discourse of authenticity which constructs the rough voice as natural and unmediated. Feminism is positively associated with this voice quality by opposing the feminine voice as sonically 'pleasing' and conforming to patriarchal and social norms. However, for a female voice the recognition of roughness can be physically more difficult to achieve because the lower register of the male voice means that roughness is more audible, and thus more noticed in male voices (van Leeuwen, 1999:132).

Whatever the difficulties in producing it the rock vocal codes can be important in expressing a feminist musical subjectivity. For example, the use of the scream as a mode of expression can be a feminist form of resistant pleasure for the listener and performer:

An attention-getting device, the scream publicizes private or internal experience. These girl screams, moreover, voice not only rage, but rage as

220 pleasure, the scream as orgasm. Taken together, they seem to be suggesting something new - not just that women are angry, but that there's pleasure in their performances of anger, or even just pleasure in performance; the scream thereby replaces the pleasant, melodious and ultimately tame emotionalism traditionally associated with the female vocalist (Gottleib and Wald, 1994:261-261).

The use of the scream, and other rock vocal codes, can challenge the traditional way we hear the female voice as naturally soft, quiet and with a smooth texture.79 Rock music, and the black American styles developing through it and alongside it, have often been the musical space in which such vocalisations have been allowed. Thus those performers (such as Courtney Love, P.J. Harvey, Annie Lennox) whose vocality falls within the rock and blues traditions have been more likely to be read as potential feminist subjects, even when they resist such labelling.

P.J. Harvey has been situated within a re-occurring debate concerning feminism

in the 1990s and what it means. The byline for one article poses the questions "Is she a feminist icon? Or just a sexy girl with a taste for PR?" (Billen,

1995:10A). For most journalists Harvey is heard and seen as "...a formidable new voice in ..." (Maconie, 1993b:132) and her media representations, taken as a whole, suggest that Harvey is represented as significant for feminism, even if she personally does not label herself one. In an article for Vox magazine Anne Scanlon described her single 'Dress' and its B

side 'Dry' as songs "...loaded with female strength, female power, female attitude" (1993:20). Part of the media's reading of her as a potential feminist subject is to do with her vocalisation. Her vocal style is positioned within both a blues and operatic tradition, both adding to her musical and feminist credibility:

79 Yet it is interesting to note that outside of the rock/pop musical context the scream is associated with fenunine weakness and fear.

221 ....she rasps like the ghost of Howlin' Wolf as the album opens up, letting the listener know the creative journey that bought her to her current bundle of love and hate has been torturous (Strauss, 1995:62).

In this review, the authenticity and historical linage of Harvey's music is clearly evoked in the reference to Howlin Wolf, described as "The most unswervingly archaic voice of Chicago blues..." expressing "...into the rock era the throaty of pre-war Mississippi blues singers.." (Hardy and Laing,

1990:372). Harvey's individual interpretation of this tradition is seen not merely as imitation but a creative act. The fact that most mainstream music critics have acknowledged her as an artist as well as a prominent female icon suggest that her appearance in a male dominated genre of the blues driven rock band adds to her possible feminist readings. She is made meaningful through a blues style connected with an authentic emotional power, her voice described as

"...steeped in the power of American blues" (Hall, 1999 Online). Another reviewer writes "...like the original bluesmen, she uses the form to assert herself, even if the content is vastly different" (Mathieson, 1995:80). Harvey's blues connotes not only masculine authentic status, but also a feminist consciousness through the intertextualities between her vocal timbre and her lyrical themes. In songs like 'Dry', the sexual imagery is unromanticised and aggressive. Furthermore, the lyrical personas, which Harvey speaks through, harks back to a black feminist musical legacy. Angela Davies argues that black female singers like and sang against the grain of white feminine romance and domesticity:

The representations of love and sexuality in women's blues often blatantly contradicted mainstream ideological assumptions regarding women and being in love. They also challenged the notion that women's "place" was in the domestic sphere (Davies, 1998:11).

Although Lennox's lyrical themes are far less sexually explicit or aggressive than Harvey's, Lennox is also interpreted in feminist terms through her use of a

222 perceived black voice. She has also been associated with one of the most overt feminist anthems of the last twenty years, in the song 'Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves'. Combined with her androgynous image and cool persona, her musical positioning as a white soul singer prompts positive feminist reading by fans and critics alike. Her musical styles and her performances have also been major keys to her position as an authentic female rock star. In Lennox's case, the musical genres, such as soul, gospel and blues, attached to her singing styles have helped to read Lennox as a powerful female singer and by extension a powerful woman in her own right. Even through her changing musical and visual styles, her longevity and musical successes as both part of the Eurythmics

and as a solo performer give her a "...strong, independent persona..." (Gribble,

1995 Online).

I have already discussed the way female singers have been able to gain authenticity through the general fascination of white middle-class youth with

the styles of African-American music. Lennox vocal style has situated her well

within the traditional of the black authentic voice, skilled and natural at the same time. Although she does use other vocal techniques and musical styles in a traditional pop mode, including ballads and white electronic pop, her use of soul and blues improvisation, and call and response, gives her added significance in the role of a powerful musical femininity. This black authenticity

is expressed by Ray Pratt through an uncritical description of the blues as a

'pure' musical expression of the human condition. Although he is referring to the blues this could very well be broadened out into any authenticity linked to

soul, rhythm and blues, and rock:

Why do whites like the blues? The answer is obvious - for the same thing that blacks found there. The blues says, "I am Somebody." "Here is my story. Hear it feel it!" In the galvanization of meaning and pitch, in the fusion of music and poetry at a high emotional temperature, we hear the authentic expression of the joy and the sorrow of human existence;...When we hear the blues we hear the expression of authentic human

223 individuality. Hearing and playing the blues is a way-of-being for all of us who feel the surplus repression of this world. As such, the blues is part of the politics of individual authenticity in which we all are involved (Pratt, 1986:74).

In regards to feminism and women performers, such interpretations of Afro-

American based music have resonance for understanding the meanings made about feminism as an authentic lived identity, which is transcribed onto the sonic text. Pratt's universalising of the blues is problematic, yet he was quoted to give an example of such universalising in the general common-sense understanding of popular music. White histories of the blues, jazz and gospel have often positioned those women performers (usually singers) as proto- feminists (e.g. Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, ). The obstacles and degradation these women suffered is romanticised to form images that we can consume today as highly authentic (see Davis, 1995). To put it simply, there has been an appropriation of the black female singer and styles to symbolise ideals of feminism, or more broadly, to symbolise female struggle within a male dominated world. However, these representations often undervalue or ignore the music through a literal reading of the singer's voice as secondary text to her life. Angela Davies suggests this when she explains some of the dominant portrayals of Billie Holiday as implying "...that her music is not more than an unconscious and passive product of the contingencies of her life" (Davies,

1998:184).

Besides the black authenticity of the blues, feminism can also be constructed through a folk white tradition of protest. Although this approach has been criticised for its un-rebellious sound, and traditional femininity in terms of voice types and musical genre, it still remains a current successful paradigm of feminist identification. The singer-songwriter and acoustical accompaniment has been a prominent space for women to become active, respectable

224 participant in popular music in the last forty years. Many of the singers studied in this thesis have been labelled the solo singer/songwriter. Some have spent most of their career in this mould such as Kate Bush, while others have moved in and out of such a role through the use of rock band accompaniment (e.g. Tori

Amos, P.J. Harvey, Sinead O'Connor) and the various different musical forms they may have moved through in their careers (e.g. Bjork and Madonna).

Sinead O'Connor exemplifies a vocality within a white folk80 and also, seemingly paradoxically, a rock tradition. In fact she represents an interesting vocal identity, in that she successfully projects both a vulnerable, confessional, intimate voice as well as a rebellious, defiant, public one. In the song 'Three

Babies' Keith Negus exemplifies these vocal qualities as both "...a more private, confessional, restrained and intimate voice, and a harsher, declamatory, more public and often nasal voice that frequently slides into a snarl or shout" (Negus,

1998:181). I would argue that in both modes her feminist identity can be re­ constructed, partly because both voices are represented as authentic to her identity, despite being seen by the media as misplaced and misguided personal emotions. Her rebel voice is embodied in her first solo release The Lion and the

Cobra:, "O'Connor is fond of dynamics and she loves to yell. That's be just fine if she did so only at appropriate moments. No such luck" (Atkinson, 1988

Online).

O'Connor is also represented through this 'angry' voice as taking risks that oppose a 'sweet' conformist femininity. The songs, on her first album, "...add up to a strong, stubborn individuality - a willingness to go out on a limb and shout when she gets there" (Pareles, 1988 Online). The elements of defiant voice

80 Part of O'Connor's meanings need to be heard within the context of the 1960s revival of folk as a weapon of protest (Greig, 1998:173), which has become synonymous with women such as Joni Mitchell, Peggy Seeger and Joan Baez. Sinead O'Connor has also represented herself as part of this tradition, calling herself "...a protest singer..." (O'Connor quoted in Rayner, 2000 Online). Her Irish background also gives her an authentic folk singer mantle.

225 are expressed through a rock discourse of authenticity which draws on values of naturalism and immediacy:

Sinead O'Connor sings sweetly on her debut album, "The Lion and the Cobra"...But not very often. She's more likely to howl or snarl, to make her voice rasp or crack, to summon gnarled embellishments of Celtic songs or the open -throated wail of arena-rock. Ms O'Connor knows the power of the female voice, and she uses it to rail against every betrayal or barrier she can envision (Pareles, 1988 Online).

Certainly her voice is portrayed as one of female defiance, constructing

O'Connor as a possible feminist subject through the rock timbre of roughness, and the degree of loudness expressed as "...open-throated wail..." (a metaphor to articulate the spatial strength of her voice). In fact it is the sound of her voice rather than the lyrics which is made meaningful as a feminist identity. In this review her voice is seen as a separate identity/sound world beyond or transcendent from the linguistic. Focusing on a song called 'Jackie' a critic explains:

Its lyrics are a would-be myth, in which the singer awaits the return of a lover said to be lost at sea; she believes he'll "lead me away to unseen shores". Alone, those lyrics are hackneyed stuff, whether or not they're supposed to be an allegory about salvation. But the performance redeems "Jackie"; with steady-strummed electric guitar chords, a vocal that rises from quiet defiance to a sustained cry...(Pareles, 1988 Online).

O'Connor cannot be simply reduced to this one style of voice. As already mentioned her folk and rock voice are often present in the same song/album.

These two vocal styles are represented as part of her skill as a singer and gives

O'Connor a position which is neither seen as sexually exploited or as simply one-of-the-boys. In fact part of her feminist reading comes from the fact that her sweet voice is very rarely read as sexy or self-objectifying, "She was never one to bend to record company pressures or to overly exploit herself commercially..." (Boyd, 1997 Online). These meanings are reinforced through

226 her lyrics and political statements outside of her music. This is not to say that sexiness is precluded from a feminist reading, but rather that sexiness is less likely to be acknowledged as female empowerment due to the negative morally loaded patriarchal discourses which are present.

O'Connor embodies several patriarchal and feminist discourses through these two voices. On the one hand she is represented as a trouble maker, voicing opinions and creating media controversy stepping beyond the traditional feminine singer-songwriter bounds. This has had the effect of de-emphasising her sexuality as a woman, with the media concentrating on her political subjectivity. This has opened up a potential feminist reading, where her music is seen as reflective of her authenticity though misjudged rebellion.

More recently however, her eccentric and wild persona has been redeemed to some extent by her personal suffering and her more 'feminine' sounding music.

In many profiles we are given a narrative which subtly warns against such rebellion because of the consequences, made real in O'Connor's own personal struggle to maintain a public image. Sinead has said that she has grown up and no longer has the anger she once did, "I love that girl who was courageous enough to take so many risks,...But I learned that if I'm going to communicate to people, I need to learn to communicate in a way that is non threatening, that's calmer" (O'Connor quoted in Farber, 2000 Online). Her vocalisation, both in her music and other non-musical controversies, is constructed through her ageing and maturity, "I was 20 when my first record came out; 25 when everything hit the fan, I'm 33 now, and having expressed a lot of stuff helped me mellow. The fact that I did a lot of screaming and shouting was quite healthy and helpful" (Campbell, 2000 Online). In fact in many interview and reviews around the time of her latest album release this was a theme which was continually discussed.

227 A process of normalisation can be seen as happening in order to contain her rebellious voice. Yet this process is by no means as logical or linear as some would have it. With her new album, O'Connor's rebellious and consciously feminist voice was heard in the first single 'No Man's Woman'. In reviews this was described through both obvious patriarchal discourses "The anthemic resolution of 'No Man's Woman' verges on male-bashing" (Brown, 2000

Online), and less critical, and often admiring statements such as "...defiant feminist manifesto..." (Christensen, 2000 Online), and "She still has fire in her belly as she sings the powerful rocker 'No Man's Woman' that will certainly be bashed by he-men woman-haters..." (Aquilante, 2000 Online).

Fans in particular saw this song as a return to her more defiant voice both in sound and in lyrics:

I would compare this album very highly to Lion & Cobra in terms of its guts, complexity, edginess, defiance, and experimental quality (Subject: She's Done It... [email protected], 11/3/2000)

On the other hand some fans found it problematic that a song that was supposed to be a single, with the intent of getting listeners interested in buying the album, had a chorus which states, "I don't want to be no man's woman/I've other work I want to get done/I haven't travelled this far to become/No man's woman." The choice of this song for a single was particularly worrying as it had been several years since O'Connor had released any new full length albums. Fans were both excited and worried at the kind of publicity O'Connor would be subjected to:

...I just don't understand how record companies pick the songs to be singles of ~ NMW is a fabulous song, but for people that don't "know" Sinead and something about what she means to say in it, it seems like it could be pretty alienating for some (ie not-so-secure young men, a big

228 target of radio play) I sort of think that she should explode back onto radio with a stronger candidate...(Subject Re: Party a Hit, [email protected], 14/6/2000).

These fears were articulated in the wake of a Billboard review of the album which was posted by a fan to the group for discussion. Part of the review stated:

If O'Connor was trying to put off every man listening to a radio, she's succeeded with aplom [sic] : T don't want to be no man's women, I have other work I want to get done/I haven't travelled this far to become no man's woman.' While she admits fear and pain from her relationships with the male gender, the overall tone remains caustic, almost like an attack, and it's wearying on the ear... Can you imagine what would happen if a man were to sing about how tired he'd become of women's manipulative ways or something similar? It would never fly - so why does this continue to be permissable? [sic] Artists are, of course entitled to write a lyric as they see fit. It's a shame, because the tune is lovely and O'Connor's talent remains remarkable. Here's hoping that the follow-up is a little more universal (posted to [email protected], 8/5/2000).

A male fan's response to this review suggests that there are various arguments which might be mobilised against such obvious patriarchal arguments that a female point-of-view equals irrelevance and should be evaluated as if gender power relations did not exist:

Well, my thoughts on the review is that it was barely about the song at all, It was all about the lyrics and he (obviously male) seemed offended at Sinead's lyrics. What a biased review. I am a male but take no offence to Sineads lyrics at all. I suppose if one wanted to possess a woman like a piece of property or something, well, anyway, I think the review was biased is all. What about melody, what about tone, performance, inflections and all the rest that goies [sic] into making the song, He totally ignores this and focuses only on one aspect of the song (Subject Re: Billboard Review of NMW (long and Typical), [email protected], 9/5/2000).

229 Another male fan concludes that O'Connor simply does not fit into the sex- object stereotype, which challenges the critics view of a female musical performer:

I'd like to bust the weenie-boy who wrote that review of No Man's Woman right in the mouth. What a twit. What a simpering clod. He admits the song sounds fantastic but, because his penis is only two inches long, he automatically thinks Sinead is bashing every male on the planet. Good for Sinead that she's gotten such a reaction, I guess. But give me a break. These days, if a woman doesn't shove a couple of jelly bags into her tits, bleach her hair blonde, and sing about wanting to screw every big- dicked black man on earth, she just ain't [sic] playing fair. That's the thing that sucks about that review. This dipshit can't abide the fact that a song with a doesn't involve some woman drooling lines like "Baby hit me one more time,"81 or worse (Subject: fuck Billboard, [email protected], 8/5/2000).

Interestingly, her lyrical point of view is juxtaposed with the musical sexiness of the beat. This fan shows a subtle and complex understanding of popular music meaning, expressing in a clear way what he sees as a mixture of possible messages. The climatic rock progression of the song's instrumentation and O'Connor's vocal intensity in terms of pitch, along with the backing of electric guitars, without the lyrical meaning per se, could be interpreted as both sexy and defiant, which in the view of this fan are not two mutually exclusive positions.

Still, many fans concluded that the songs lack of radio airplay and lack of success with a buying public was due to the lyrics:

...I think 'No Man's Woman' was the perfect song to re-introduce Sinead to radio. It's a pop/rock tune with an edgy, provocative message and one of the best hooks I've heard in awhile. However, it's too polarizing to be a massive radio hit (Subject: Yes and No, [email protected], 23/6/2000).

81 These lyrics are from a top ten hit by which was on the charts the year of O'Connor's album release.

230 What was clear from the fan discussion was that there was a tension between hoping for commercial success for O'Connor and worry over her becoming too commercial in sound. Part of this debate centred around the way O'Connor represents a unique female role model:

This record is a killer, groundbreaking. When I think of how utterly formulaic and uninspired the other female artists of this era are compared to this record, i could laugh (Subject She's Done It, [email protected], 11 / 5 / 2000).

Certainly her fans agree that she continues to be a unique role model for women and girls to find an alternative to mainstream femininity:

I believe whole heartedly that Sinead is extremely powerful as a person and very influential. I want her message and ideals to seep over into the public eye...particularly for women. I do so much want the young women of this world to know there is beauty beyond bleached hair and blue eyes and a tight pair of jeans. I feel so sad that our young women are growing up killing themselves and cutting themselves all because in their precious minds they aren't good enough, Sinead can help in this endeavour. Especially now with these little girls becoming pop stars and the little girls of the world thinking they should be them, its (Subject Re: Well, [email protected], 22/5/2000).

However, her recent album has also bought concerns that this status might be

eroded because of her use of pop producers and a more obviously produced

pop sound, even though she uses a mixture of genres such as celtic folk, soul,

and reggae. One fan articulates this through a reading of the tone, volume and

production of her voice:

...to be honest, it was the deperation (sic) that always haunted me. I love our girl...she is good, sweet, kind and beautiful, and her heart is 10 sizes too big for her tiny body, but i think she has more to yell, and i dont (sic) want anyone at atlantic to make her think she has to be quiet to be heard. cuz (sic) its not true (Subject: they shoot stars dont they?, [email protected], 16/6/2000).

231 Sinead O'Connor's star-text, including her musical vocality and style, sits within two critical discourses, both negotiated through patriarchal discourses.

The debates and representations surrounding the single 'No Man's Woman' illustrate the kinds of tensions which a potential feminist message and reading may be subjected to. Having a feminist voice can be aligned with rock discourses of rebellion, however it can also be marginalising, seen as an abnormal female view of the world. The qualifications which go with the label feminism frame these tensions:

I'm very much a feminist. Women can say that now without it meaning they hate men, I adore men. I think there should also be a men's movement which is not anti-women (O'Conner quoted in Campbell, 2000 Online).

The fear of marginalisation is clearly a factor in such comments, O'Connor knowing well enough how the media can create an image of demented, female irrationality. However, the feminist voice also is a badge of courage and power.

Thus there is many a contradiction in the representation of a 'authentic' feminist message and image (musical and visual). This can certainly be seen in the representation of Tori Amos, who came to the critics' attention with her first solo album . As a solo performer who writes all her own songs and lyrics, Amos fits into the growing canon of women singer-songwriters. In her first few albums her vocal style reflects the traditions of the folk voice, and the ballad form, Amos' ballads such as 'China', 'Baker Baker', and 'A Thousand

Oceans', accompanied by her main instrument the piano, create a highly internal emotional world of longing and loss. Amos is often associated with previous female singer-songwriters:

....who have used their artistic voice to highlight both the strength and the vulnerability of their gender. Within that there is a lineage which reads: Joni Mitchell, Kate Bush - and now, in fanciful theory, the fruit of an imagined artistic and spiritual union between the two - Tori Amos (Doyle, 1996:93).

232 Amos' link to these women is the role of singer-songwriter, and the authenticity and feminine tradition the role implies. Amos' failure in an 1980's rock band, an experience of rape and her final rehabilitation through the process of writing her first solo album, is a narrative which is repeated time and time again and confirms Amos' authentic status both as musician and as bearer of a feminist perspective. Paradoxically by giving up the rock band she is represented as finding her true voice. Little Earthquakes is described as a process where she

"..found her voice.." and provided "...voice for a legion of women" (Ferguson,

1994:47-48).

Yet, at the same time as Amos' voice is presented as a reflection of her true self, it can be also interpreted as part of a marginal and over-emotional femininity which both verified her status as a unique female role model, and brings with it the devaluation of her work as truly universally relevant. That is, Amos is often simply represented as an eccentric femininity, which is far from challenging.

Because Amos' musical and visual style has many feminine elements in it, from genre, to vocality to, to instrumentation, to visual image, her feminist status is negotiated through these.

In fact Amos' vocal style is sometimes too feminine (lacking roughness, depth and thickness) for some commentators. With her added quirky images, interviews and hippy persona she is often subtly dismissed. The point made earlier that the rock voice represents a liberating feminist power is problematic for performers like Amos, whose voices are coded as 'feminine' even though other elements may contradict such a reading. Thus the below statement by

Tori Amos reveals the way musical codes can be read in both traditional and subversive ways. The sound of her voice does not have the rock codes of loudness, distortion and roughness. This is seen by some reviewers and music

233 journalists as somehow disappointing in regards to the subject matter of the songs. In fact Amos herself has suggested that it is both her vocal style and register that influences the media in their portrayal of her ultra-feminine flightiness. In one interview she criticise female journalists for portraying her as eccentric:

What do journalists have to gain by you being strange? They're selling copy. Oh, I laugh my head off when some woman calls me a shivering waif in the forest. I'm like "OK, sister, you get raped and get ready to get cut up, and then write about it and sing it. And you have the balls to call me a waif shivering in the forest." That's why I wrote "Cornflake Girl" and "The Waitress." That to me is a lizard running around with pussy. It's not a woman to me. She ruined her rights as a woman. So what if I sing like Little Mermaid? (Amos quoted in Mundy, 1994:13).

Amos is quoted elsewhere as being aware of the problem of her vocality in terms of representation. In one interview she explains the uniqueness of Janis

Joplin's voice and finds her own lacking:

Who else could drink all that whisky and sing like that? For 25 years the guys have tried but they still can't touch her...I'd love to sound like her, but I sound like the Little Mermaid half the time (Amos, 1994a:31).

These comments express both criticism at institutions of representation as well as personal vocal lack. At certain times her voice seems to undermine her authority and power in the eyes of some commentators and Amos herself clearly acknowledges that she would like a Joplin-like voice.82 A female reviewer for Rolling Stone illustrates the 'problem' of Amos' vocality when she writes:

82 Joplin's voice represents one of the most 'authentic' female rock voices of the twentieth century and is often noted as challenging patriarchal double standards and gender roles through her voice, "...the stridency of female rockers such as Janis Joplin has represented a clear challenge to the status quo..." and "...a form of cultural resistance..." (Shepherd, 1991:171).

234 There's a twisted current running "," as she titled her last album, but as she trills away in a soprano voice that's 40 per cent breath, it's hard to get past the fact that Amos has thanked "the faeries" on all her albums (McDonnell, 1996:84).

This reviewer (a self identified feminist writer) raises a tension between the feminine voice and the seriousness of her musical work. This review states that

Amos needs to play the game more seriously and conform to codes that can be read as 'serious' music. Within this discourse one can see that the push for more women in rock is a clear goal for feminism. Amos' references to patriarchy and exploration of female sexuality in her lyrics and musical performances are overshadowed in this profile by the contradictions between femininity, feminism and the artist. Amos' position as possessing "...highbrow, singer- songwriter-style eccentricity..." (Duerden, 1999:116) is not a straightforward, or easily authenticated feminist strategy. According to Reynolds and Press, Amos is less likely to be understood as a significant challenge to women's role in music because of her lack of rock elements:

...Tori Amos is seldom bracketed with the angry young women. She's seen more as a successor to the Joni Mitchell confessional singer-songwriter tradition. While Amos' subject matter is arguably just as unsettling as Hole's..., it's - post-Kate Bush art-pop - is too decorous and 'feminine' to be sanctioned by alternative tastemakers (Reynolds and Press, 1995:266-267).

Her vocal elements of "...frayed whispers...breathy coos...otherworldly trills..."

(Tayler, 1999 Online), have become a little less obvious in her more recent

albums, which take up more obviously studio produced vocal effects, and

downplay the 'natural' intimate voice. Technologies are used in obvious ways to roughen up the textures and create drama and sonic distance (e.g. in 'She's

Your Cocaine'). These can be compared to her earlier vocal intimacy where the studio recording captured her breathing between phrases. In her more recent albums, Amos has used more layered production techniques as well as more

235 instrumentation and accompaniment to provide other sonic points of interest.

This has meant that her voice has become less central to some part of her recordings, with critics paying attention to the musical texture and instrumentation:

...for once, she doesn't feel obligated to channel every ounce of emotion into every note. She lets her own electronic-dance production do most of the work, so the focus of "Juarez" isn't on her swirling vocals but Matt Chamberlin's throbbing drums and Jon Evans' snaking (Knopper, 1999 Online).83

However, her vocality and the way it relates to feminine /masculine dichotomy remains a significant motif in media representations, "Although these mixes don't hesitate to occasionally bury her voice, Amos often still sings like the coloratura president of Robert Plant's fan club" (Hunter, 1998:87). In this comment there is a linking of her vocal to both the operatic diva, and an encoded masculinised rock voice which is high in pitch but often tense, in the way the sound is produced in the throat. Amos is positioned as a fan rather than a musician, which is significant in the gender power relations of representation, and the kinds of values, already discussed in previous chapters, that are attached to such roles.

In an extremely negative review appearing in New Musical Express, of the album

Songs From the Choir Girl Hotel, this new fuller musical accompaniment is seen as a move forward "...it's often musically intriguing, a conscious effort by Amos to move away from her pianocentric horizons" (Segal, 1998 Online). The reviewer goes onto explain Amos' unusual singing style and rhythmic structures as rather annoying and frustrating "Yet Amos' creative use of unpredictable rhythms comes across not so much as a new language, but as the

83 The sexual imagery of male musicianship is almost pornographic here, indicating Amos as a woman in a man's world of musical production which is made valuable through patriarchal images of male sexual prowess.

236 same old language spoken by someone with a lousy grasp of syntax" (Segal, 1998 Online). Amos' repetitions, extension, odd stresses and pronunciation of syllables and words is understood here as merely artifice and/or a lack of skill on her part, rather than a new and different style of interpretation. Not only this but she is seen as part of a long line of women using victimhood as a commodity:

No wonder Tori Amos has enjoyed such great success - her eccentric mystique, together with that other supposedly female perennial, suffering, have made her a trauma poster girl, the screwed-up survivor with the sexy scars (Segal, 1998 Online).

Like some criticisms of O'Connor, and Alanis Morissette, Amos is charged with self-indulgence, without the artistic objectivity to make real art. The review goes on:

This is the infuriating indulgence that the confessional needs to avoid it it's not to make you take to the street with a machete; the unbridgeable gap between Kurt Cobain and , Kristen Hersh and Alanis Morissette, between expecting applause for pulling out your heart and bleeding, and having the discipline to use a scalpel and a paintbrush (Segal, 1998 Online).

In terms of instrumentation Amos' use of the piano both connotes a traditional femininity as well as the re-negotiation of the piano as a pretty, non- threatening, domestic musical past-time. Thus unlike the electric guitar, the piano is not an instrument which is easily identifiable with rebellion or rock authenticity. However, the piano accompaniment has become her trademark which positions her both as a feminine musician, within a classical and popular tradition, and a feminist.84 For example, she is seen as breaking out of the

84 Her classical musical positioning is acknowledged in the biographical fact of her life as a child prodigy "...accepted to Baltimore's at age 5" (Ross, 1999 Online). However, her rebel status is also confirmed by her expulsion at the young age of 11, "She rebelled against the Institute's strictly classical format, insisting on playing her own compositions, Her love of Led Zeppelin didn't help her standing there, either" (Ross, 1999 Online).

237 stereotype of previous singer-songwriters through mixing difficult lyrical themes (rape, masturbation) with a more traditional piano based ballad style:

...with her debut album...Tori Amos redefined the concept of a woman and a piano. No whining waif, Amos dealt forcefully and unapologetically with a tough three Rs - rape, religion and romance. Add a little artsy pretence, brought on by her distinctive piano-playing style and enigmatic poetry, and Amos was clearly one of the most unusual and distinctive voices of the decade (Graff, n.d. Online).

This representation is in complete contrast to the criticisms of Amos as femme fatale victim. Her piano here is understood as a powerful feminine symbol along with her vocality. The piano also has associations which are often put into oppositional values with rock. This is articulated below in her later album where her 'control' over sound, through the domination of her piano, gives way to democratic rock community:

In the past, all elements of her arrangements answered to Amos and her keyboards; now, she replaces that hierarchy with rock interaction. On From the Choir Girl Hotel, she's just one of several tenders of her own sound garden (Hunter, 1998:87).

Yet the piano does not always carry feminine associations. Although since the

1960s the piano has become one of the instruments of both the male and female singer-songwriter, in the early days of rock and blues the piano was essential to the rhythmic accompaniment. Amos has drawn on classical and ballad piano styles and song forms, as well as using the rhythmic elements of rock __' roll in some of her songs, making clear intertextual references to this musical history.

In tracks like '' we are reminded that the piano was central to blues and rock 'n' roll male performers of the early 1950s. Little Richard, Fats

Domino and Jerry Lee Lewis used the piano as both rhythmic instrument and performance props. Amos' use of rhythm in this song, although performed on

238 the , makes clear intertextual references to these early days of rock and blues.85

Amos has also used her piano like these early male performers, at least in live

performances, as a performance prop, using her whole body as a physical force

within her playing. It has been noted that her straddling of her piano seat

carries with it potent sexual message usually confined to the phallic playing

techniques of male guitarists and male singers use of the .

However, Amos claims that she was criticised by some feminists for her

apparent overt sexual playing:

These women were supposedly left-wing feminist, saying they were really offended by the way I was playing because I was making myself an object. But I didn't see myself as an object, this was how I felt good playing. And I still do...Some of these feminists become fascists, because they're saying if I don't do certain things that they deem appropriate then I'm not a strong independent women. Bullshit! Whether it's the concerned mothers of America or the left-wing feminists who have to try and censor things and try and attack you, to me it's fascist either way (Amos, 1994b:14).

Here we have a sense that feminism constrains artistic expression rather than

opening up possibilities, in this case feminism is associated with anti-pleasure.

Apart from the early examples from rock and roll, the piano, especially in

mainstream popular music, has been associated with a feminine pastime of the

middle class. In such a context the piano comes to symbolise parental control

and conformity, while the instrumentation of rock guitars and drums is the

antithesis of such constraint. Amos plays with these symbolic dichotomies in

her performance. In fact it is Amos' 'wanton' use of the piano that has created

such a reaction. Of course her playing may be read as a sexual display for men,

85 She also includes other small reference in the vocal and recording techniques. For example, the vocal breaking or hiccupping and the hollow echoing effects on these vocal motifs reconstructs a vocal stereotype of 1950s rock recordings.

239 but when put into context of her musical themes and lyrics such a straightforward reading needs to be re-thought. Although her vocal sound may

fit into a feminine tradition which does not necessarily have strong feminist connotations, other elements can be read as indications of a feminist status.

Her biography is mobilised within a discourse rock rebellion that can be easily positioned within a feminist discourse of non-conformity. In her profiles we are told that she was expelled from her when only a child because she

would not follow the rules. She is often segregated from other feminine musical

acts as a way of complementing both her creativity as an individual and her

rebellious status:

It's obvious that Amos has come a long way since her doomed rock chick days in the band , but she's moved in leaps and bounds from the soft-focus solo beginnings of 'Little Earthquakes'. Anyone foolish enough to lump her in the same filing cabinet as Suzanne Vega or , would be making a huge mistake. She's innovative, intriguing and exciting (Staunton, 1996:80).

Her use/performance of piano both places her as a female musician (with a well developed feminine perspective) and signifies her difference from mainstream popular music (both performed by men and women). Combined

with her lyrics, extra-musical interviews, profiles and her charity work, this

feminine perspective is clearly open to a feminist reading.86

86 Amos has helped set up the organisation RAINN which provides a national hotline in the U.S, and continues to raise money for this cause. Information on the organisation can be found at http://www.rainn.org.

240 Conclusion

From the analysis above it should be clear that there are multiple feminist musical subject positions within popular musical performances. In terms of musical elements genre and vocal type play an important role in establishing and challenging feminist identity. Rock styles, the rock band format, and the position of singer/songwriter offer women alternatives from the assumptions made of the female pop singer as commodified and merely entertaining. The media also often portrays these women as self-authored musicians or interpreters rather than manipulated ciphers or industry victims. Such representations lend themselves to a which announces equality through sameness, that is sameness to male defined genres and skills.

Other musical representations present an intimate and more confessional female point-of-view which can be defined through a feminist reading of female difference and feminine expression. The soft sounds of acoustic accompaniment, the use of the ballad form, and vocal 'sweetness' (e.g. high pitch, smooth timbre) can signify a feminist femininity which is no longer interested in competing with the boys. Yet this style of musical feminist expression is more ambiguous and often requires other extra-musical texts to confirm a feminist status. In other genres feminism is tolerated, to some extent, as a almost taken-for-granted identity, in music/voices categorised as rock, blues, and folk. Yet even with these musical indicators a feminist reading is by no means straight-forward. As seen in P.J. Harvey's case, there is considerable time spent in creating distance between a second wave 'ugly' 'man-hating' feminism and a 'new' less frightening postfeminist equality. Again feminism is always a qualified, debated, and slippery term of identification which, as we have seen, is often avoided as a subject position from which to speak. Women

241 in all genres, who dare to speak of gender relations in transgressive terms, can come up against some familiar stereotypes (feminism as victim, commercial gimmick, and /or anachronistic) which some women quite clearly wish to avoid.

The final chapter considers how the musical performer is represented as a musical subject, and consequently what creativity means and how it is deployed in relation to these other competing subjectivities already discussed.

242 CHAPTER SEVEN

MUSICAL SUBJECTIVITY

Introduction

In analysing femininity and feminism as subject positions within popular music we have inevitably touched on the notion of creativity as both a competing and complementary position in relation to various discourses. For example, feminism is more easily recognised as expressed through rock and folk genre. However, these discourses of creativity have not been fully explained. In this chapter the dominant meanings of creativity are outlined and explored within the media press and fan discussions. In particular, evaluating and measuring authorial status, and the control of the studio recording process, as well as individuality, originality, honesty and non-commercialism are part of constructing an overall discourse of creative authenticity. Building on the preceding discussion this chapter takes up a feminist analysis of creativity, deconstructing the individual romantic artistic subject which continues to be the measure of artistic subjecthood. The chapter further relates the way fan cultures on the internet construct themselves as audiences of taste and discernment in relation to the star texts. In fact fans often negotiate the dominant criterion of authorship, individuality, originality and honesty in new ways, as well as appropriating these elements in constructing their own set of value judgements.

243 Valuing Musicality

Previous chapters have outlined the way genre and vocality has been tied to valuing musical performance. Women, who have dominated roles and genres such as the pop singer have often been devalued through a construction of femininity as a weak, unskilled, and/or a 'natural' musical position. Part of this creative distinction between men and women has a history not only within music (both classical and popular), but within the visual arts and literature. In

Western art, from at least the medieval period, men dominated the areas distinguished as art forms. During the Renaissance there was a clear separation made between craft and fine art in the visual arts, with professional painters and sculptors being patronised by the gentry and royal courts, thus becoming institutionalised and legitimised as absolute art forms rather than merely decorative or practical. This process was not just one of class distinction but also of gender segregation in terms of artistic work and value (Chadwick,

1992:37). In the musical as well as the visual arts the emergence of high and low forms, as well as gendered exclusion from musical roles such as the composer, was also apparent (see Citron, 1993).

Furthermore, the eighteenth and nineteenth century saw the solidification of the creative subject as male. In fact the historical and ideological effects of romanticism as an artistic and aesthetic movement are important in understanding the kinds of aesthetic values which continue to have discursive legitimacy in the world of popular music criticism. Authenticity and its definition as "...the full development and expression of individuality" (Pratt,

1986:62) has significant roots within romanticism and constructs the individual as central to artistic work. This can be seen in the subject position of the genius, embodying literally the individual pinnacle of artistic achievement. Through

244 deploying essentialism, patriarchy continues to deny females access to artistic practices as well as to ignoring and devaluing creativity practiced outside legitimate artistic institutions. Feminists like Battersby have chronicled the development of the creative subject through patriarchal discourses:

The genius's instinct, emotion, sensibility, intuition, imagination - even his madness - were different from those of ordinary mortals. The psychology of woman was used as a foil to genius: to show what merely apes genius. Biological femaleness mimics the psychological femininity of the true genius. Romanticism, which started out by opening a window of opportunity for creative women, developed a phraseology of cultural apartheid...with women amongst the categories counted as not-fully human. The genius was a male - full of 'virile' energy - who transcended his biology: if the male genius was 'feminine' this merely proved his cultural superiority. Creativity was displaced male procreativity: male sexuality made (Battersby, 1989:3).

These romantic ideals of the male intellect as central to the 'pure' and

transcendental creative process have had an impact on the development of

popular music criticism and discourses of rock authenticity. The distinctions

made between genre exemplify romanticism as a continuing influence on

musical value judgements:

Developed as a set of ideas primarily in literature and philosophy, romantic thought saw the individual artist's ability to convey emotion as the goal of artistic creativity, and art itself as a central component of human life. Applied to commercial popular music in a late twentieth- century context, it provided a powerful means for a clear division between, on one hand, rock and soul... and, on the other, pop and various despised genres such as country...This schema is still a powerful means of organizing the way people think about music around the world (Hesmondhalgh, 1996:195-196).

Other writers have noted the compatibility in values promoted by both rock

and romanticism, "The artistic virtues of rock and romanticism are originality,

primal order, energy, honesty, and integrity" (Pattison, 1987:188). Similarly, Wil

Greckel suggests that the musical eras of romanticism and rock have very

similar characteristics underlying their seemingly musical differences. These

245 parallel characteristics include, for example, the expression of intense emotion, the expression of rebellion against traditional social and moral constraints, technological advances in musical instruments, and the use of drugs (Greckel

1979, 177-178). More importantly, he points to the way in which musicians, in both periods, have become the individual centres of attention in the form of the

'star':

The heroic figure common to both musical of Rock and Romanticism is the star performer-composer. There are compelling similarities between the Mick Jagger of the Rock Era and the of the Romantic Era. Both represent in their own way the virtuoso performer-composer;...the great showman on stage; the sex-symbol-lady- killer thronged with hysterical, idolizing women grasping for a personal souvenir...; the dashing figure with a sensational if not scandalous life­ style; the archetype who personifies the characteristics of his particular era (Greckel 1979,199-200).87

Romanticism also exemplifies a hierarchical value of creativity which has been carried over into the pop/rock dichotomy and has helped continue to construct rock discourses. As we have seen in previous chapters rock and pop forms are negotiated through a hierarchal oppositional value of gender, although there are differences in the way rock as a discourse constructing musical identity is positioned against pop. One version emphasises musical skill and classical notions of musicianship, while another places emphasis on rebellion, energy, immediacy, and originality. Yet, both tend to apply to male performers more than female. Although academics like Grossberg (1992) have argued that there has been a loosening of universal claims to authentic performance, in reality there has been a significant continuation of conservative values within musical criticism that should not be ignored (see Zanes, 1999:67). Artistic musical creativity continues to be rewarded in terms of several themes discussed below.

87 Greckel does not comment on the quite obvious gender assumptions made in the above construction of the composer/performer as star. Yet the quotation reveals the common sense discourses which have placed the male rock performer as the norm of rock success and mastery.

246 Authorship

Artistic autonomy is most obviously recognised through the degree to which a performer is associated with the role of author. in his famous essay entitled 'The Death of the Author' explains the position of author as a historical construct, emerging from various European and English philosophical and social trends, which have helped to construct authorship as a transparent position of creative intention embodied in the individual subject.

Barthes explains:

The author is a modern figure, a product of our society insofar as, emerging in the Middle Ages with English empiricism, French rationalism and the personal faith of the Reformation, it discovered the prestige of the individual, of, as it is more nobly put, the 'human person' (Barthes, 1977:142-143).

Although Barthes goes on to deconstruct this figure through a structuralist theory of language, and thus problematises this concept, in the everyday world of the music industry and commercial profit, authorship is normalised within a definition which seeks to marginalise the problematic and contested nature of the role. Certainly, in the mainstream music press one of the authentic criteria articulated by critics is the role of the author or composer, where emphasis is placed on the ability of the performer to write her/his own musical material.

Although cultural theory sees authorship as a contested concept, Richard

Middleton points out that even though academics may have taken up the postmodern turn in their approach to the issue of authorship "...it is by no means clear that the popular music culture itself has followed suit" (Middleton,

1995:465). If a musical performer is to be perceived as an authentic and thus a creative musician she/he must show, to some extent, that they have had some hand in the writing of the material. Yet, the evaluation of what kinds of

247 activities fit into the authorial role severely marginalises the positive recognition of women's musical work. As we shall see, the male dominated role of the is now positioned as creating the overall sound of a recording (Jones, 1992). In particular, the following examples focus on the issue of authorship and the way it positions individual female music performers as

'authentic artists', as well as undermining the creative subjectivity of others.

Interviews, album and concert reviews make it quite clear that the question of authorship is very much part of a mainstream critical discourse. Performers who take writing credits for songs usually stand a better chance of being evaluated more favourably in terms of their musical status. Out of all the performers cited in this thesis, Kylie Minogue has had the least musical input in terms of writing credits, while P.J. Harvey, Bjork, Tori Amos and Kate Bush have tended to maintain individual writing credit for most of the solo work they have recorded. These performers, as well as others, have collaborated with other writers, musicians and producers to produce multi-credited work. Annie

Lennox has been most notably associated with Dave Stewart as writing partner,

Madonna with and , and Alanis Morissette with

Glen Ballard.

Although collaborative work is often accepted as a rock tradition, especially in regards to the rock band form of musical production, for female solo performers the collaborative approach is often constructed as creatively suspect. Patriarchal discourses mobilise individual authority in a very narrow and limited way, and often attempt to deny female performers authenticity as creative subjects. An obvious example of this is in an article entitled 'Behind

Every Great Woman..' in the British music glossy Q. The by-line states, "There's a male co-songwriter: horny-handed, Platonic tunesmen wearing at least one leg of the musical trousers" (Sutcliffe, 1996:98). This one sentence frames a

248 patriarchal discourse of male rationality and genius which figures throughout the article. The piece in particular profiles Alanis Morissette's song writing partner and producer :

"I'm happy to be a silent partner," says Glen Ballard de facto midwife to Alanis Morissette's 12-million-selling Jagged Little Pill...Further, she says he guided her through moments when extreme confessional candour became frightening...(Sutcliffe, 1996:98).

Here Ballard is represented as a male genius who appropriates the feminine metaphor of midwife but who transcends this feminine association with biological creativity, represented by Morissette as the mother, by reproducing ideas rather than bodies. As Battersby has pointed out in her history of the genius figure in Western art culture, "Creativity was displaced male procreativity: male sexuality made sublime" (Battersby, 1989:3). Thus Ballard is not positioned as creative through the mother metaphor but as the instrumental hand which guides Morissette's creativity and reinforces the criticisms elsewhere that Morissette's performance is an 'act' controlled by and formed by the patriarchal intellect of male rationality. Ballard is also 'conceived' of as

Morissette's metaphoric heterosexual partner who structures and moulds her musical texts into authentic ones, reflecting both her growth to adulthood as well as her submission to male expertise.88

This understanding of Morissette's position is repeated in many media narratives in the period after the release and global commercial success of her album Jagged Little Pill. For example her biographical write up in the artist profiles of Rolling Stone's website similarly suggests the importance of Glen

Ballard in creating a more authentic sound for her:

88 Of course, what is missing from this representation is the acknowledgment that many male performers rely just as much on musicians, songwriters, producers, publicists etc to create their sound and image.

249 After high school, Morissette moved to where she had the good fortune to hook up with songwriter/producer Glen Ballard, known for his work with Michael Jackson, and Wilson Phillips. The creative chemistry between Ballard and Morissette was evident from the beginning. Ballard pushed Morissette to pursue darker, edgier themes in her music, venturing away from the cutesy teenager and towards the introspective young woman (Cramer, n.d. Online).

Morissette's history as a teenage pop star in Canada explains the above patriarchal representation of Morissette and Ballard's creative relationship, Morissette becoming moulded and shaped by her superior skilled male counterpart. Also, because Ballard had already been associated with other pop chart successes (e.g. Wilson Phillips and Michael Jackson) this relationship meant that although he was also suspect, at least he was seen as the successful

'pop savvy' part of the . However, much of the media reported on this narrative as coming from other critics, which they were simply re-telling rather than directly making such criticism. For example, Rolling Stone declared

"...her critics suggest she's simply a contrived creation of the studio" (Wild, 1995a:54) while regular music writer for the Australian Sun-Herald wrote

"...critics have accused Morissette and her record company of contrivance" (Thomas, 1996:22), with such re-tellings laying Morissette's creative identity open to speculation.

Efforts to gain credibility by taking up the position of lyricist or songwriter can often be seen as tokenistic attempts to attract an aura of musicality and acquire critical rather than commercial fame. Kylie Minogue on her albums Kylie and Impossible Princess tried for the first time in her career to engage in writing lyrics for many of the songs on the album. The response from the weekly New Music

Express was one of condescension, "Kylie actually co-wrote only one of the songs on her new album. For all the talk of 'expressing herself, she hasn't suddenly become Sinead O'Connor" (Ridgers, 1994:13). Here Minogue's musicality is devalued through comparing it with O'Connor, who represents an

250 expressive 'real' performer compared with Minogue's audience pleasing entertainment. Along with O'Connor's extra-musical meanings of controversy and outspokenness, the juxtaposition between them is even more polarising.

Also, creativity is clearly linked to a traditional notion of an author who is 'in control', however as seen in above quotation even when performers are given official song writing credit there is often suspicion cast on their abilities in a collaborative form. Collaboration with other (usually male) producers, writers, or performers often undermines a female performer's musical credibility in her own right. Minogue's growing contributions to her recorded songs, in terms of co-authorship, are clearly appreciated by her fans as a reflection of Minogue's real emotional self. There is also some disappointment as to the extent of her contributions "...Kylie still has a lot to learn with song writing and it would be nice to know that she could write with little if any assistance from others"

(Subject Re: KYLIE New Debate, [email protected], 27/5/2001).

Media suspicion about the actual creative input of a female performer, in regards to co-authorship or writing , is intensified if there has been, or is, some kind of personal relationship between the female performer and the writer or producer, whether substantiated through media gossip or more official personal statements. For example, we have already seen in previous chapters how Courtney Love haters suggest that her husband, Kurt

Cobain, covertly wrote the songs for her band Hole. Criticism of Love, and Hole as a group, has further appeared through the collaboration and song-writing credits with Billy Corgan on the Hole album Celebrity Skin. His success and media persona as controlling music genius with his own band the Smashing

Pumpkins created further doubt as to whether Love had to replace her husband's behind-the-scenes help with another male songwriter.89

89Almost all articles around the time of the release of Celebrity Skin repeated the narrative of controversy surrounding Corgan's actual influence on the sound of the record, a controversy

251 Yet writing songs/music is not the only signifier of authenticity, as we shall see. There are negotiations between fans, and within the music press concerning which criteria should be the most obvious measures of an artist's creativity. Also, a performer's creativity may be measured via a number of criteria that work, in combination, to position the artist as authentically musical or not. For example, it might be the combination of authorship and content (style) that is present, or the perceived skill of the singer in combination with personal lyrics.

Yet most of the dominant combinations of criteria contain a discourse that is underpinned by a vision of a unified subject; one that is a 'free' autonomous human being, which is embodied by the individual author. One role which has been granted such a status is the record producer.

The complex technology involved in the recording and performing process of pop music plays a part in the designation of 'good' music. Both technology itself and the successful control of these tools are used as measures of good music. In Steve Jones' comprehensive analysis of popular he states, "The ideology of rock, and therefore its meaning, revolves around sound. Recording technology, as the means by which sound is manipulated and reproduced, is the site of control over sound, and therefore the site of musical and political power in popular music" (Jones, 1992:72). If an artist is seen as having some input into the more technical roles of the recording process, even the decision making process of hiring a producer, it can help maintain musical credibility.90 Better still, if they can show that they are capable of producing which was made 'real' by these re-tellings. There seems to be no one original source which initiated suspicion about Love's plagiarism. Throughout her public career she has been romantically linked to many male musical stars, for example and Trent Reznor, which have furthered her representation as a devouring femme fatale. 90 The limited creative status of choosing producers well can be seen in the rather backhanded praise given to Kylie Minogue for the sound of her self titled album, "What Kylie Minogue proves is that if you're an artist of limited talent, the success of each project basically comes down to whose hands you put yourself in. The choice is everything. On this record, the singing budgie...is packaged and presented by hot mixers , Terry Farley and , among others. Dance gods the contribute a track as well...there is more

252 their own music, female performers can gain significant music credibility. The producer involved in the recording of a record can be described in a similar way to a film director:

The record producer extends the work of A & R, making the key decisions about how specific material should be recorded in a studio and supervising the sessions...

Artists and repertoire staff attempt to find a producer who will be actively involved in the selection and arrangement of material and who can assist an act in specific ways (Negus, 1992:82)

Kate Bush exemplifies one of only a few female performers who have fulfilled the role of composer and producer throughout most of her recording career. In general, the media accepts Bush's role as a creative musical subject. The praise of her ability to produce as well as write her own music is reflected in reviews of her most critically acclaimed album to date, :

Kate Bush produced Hounds of Love herself. It is an audacious effort, full of daring and danger. In lesser hands it would have been pretentious or precious. Instead, it is invigorating (Tearson, 1986 Online).

Her successful fulfilment of the role of producer is especially noted in music technology magazines such as Digital Audio, where the technical aspects of the sound recording are important criteria:

The sound quality on this disc [Hounds of Love] is first-rate. Part of this may be attributed to Bush's sensitive approach to producing her own music, competent engineering, and digital mixdown...(Hardy, 1986 Online).

Her position as both producer and musical technology expert are intertwined in representations such as "...Bush is a studio wizard and a master with synth-

than enough talent twiddling the knobs to lend an air of credibility to proceedings" (Casimir, 1994:8s).

253 sequencing gadgetry..." (Bradberry, 1990 Online) and "...Bush is a reclusive studio obsessive..." (Washington Post, 1989 Online) which mix images of musical genius with images of romantic artistic creativity. For example, the large time gaps between her albums is interpreted as a sign of the creative effort she puts into constructing her sound in the studio, "The gap is not a surprise since the reclusive Bush is such an obsessive sound sculptor..." (Kenny, 1993 Online).

Bush's control over the recording process is positively valued because it is the measure of the 'truth' of her art. However, taking up the role of producer does not necessarily always mean positive affirmations of her records. In some cases

Bush's use of the technologies of the studio are met with criticism within a traditional rock discourse. A dichotomy between the spontaneous and the over- calculated is mobilised, wherein the technological is juxtaposed with human

expression. Claims that Bush is overly controlling in the studio run throughout her career, with Bush being represented as over-reaching her artistic role by not

allowing for an 'objective' ear to edit her work:

Kate Bush suffers from the deadliest of the seven sins: indulgence. There's nobody minding the shop, nobody who dares say: Hey Kate, these three songs are great, but these seven sound like something out of Suzanne Vega's nightmare (Brearley, 1993:12).

Kate Bush's 'control' of the studio technology is presented through these two competing discourses, one which highlights her authentic skill as a 'real' creative subject, the other questioning Bush's creative 'objectivity' in statements

such as, "While previous outings harnessed studio technology to Kate's

whims, much of Red Shoes sounds imprisoned by it" (Dalton,

1993:112).

The producer's role and influence is not just a preoccupation of the technophile

rock critic. Fans also discuss the significance of this role in musical texts, and in

254 constructing the artistic subject. In discussing the need for outside producers, a Madonna fan states:

I believe that true artists (such as M [Madonna] and Tori) put so much of themselves into their art that maintaining an objective POV [Point of view] becomes near to impossible (Subject Re: Could M produce an album herself?, alt.fan.madonna, 27/2/96).

A dichotomy is articulated here between the emotional expression of the artist and the technical objectivity of the producer. Within this dichotomy of subjectivity/objectivity is the positioning of musical technology and its users as intervening and shaping the emotional artist into a meaningful product to sell, as well as to be understood by an audience. Furthermore, the objective/subjective and producer/performer opposition is often easily read through an essentialised gendered subject, in which discourses of femininity and masculinity reinforce aesthetic values. Thus the producer is positioned as rational, lending technological expertise, instrumentality and structure to a feminine performance which lacks an ability to edit or transform emotional expression into a general communicative format. The positioning of the producer as objective artistic adviser is expressed by one fan's explanation for another fan's disappointment with the sound of Tori Amos' album Boys for

Pele.:

...maybe this is because Tori doesn't have someone to act as sounding board for her ideas, someone to say "perhaps this is all too much, perhaps this isn't enough." It does seem to me, after all, that Tori got real excited producing this on her own and released an album of "noteworthy" length. So perhaps so much of the disappointment in this album is not so much the music, but the production (Subject: Re Could it be the Production?, rec.music.tori-amos, 3/2/97).

Here we see how the sound of a recording is often referred to as separate from the music itself (Jones, 1992:51-52). While the fan pinpoints the problem as

255 Amos' inability to produce her own work, the criticism does not undermine

Amos' music.

In general, both fans and critics talk about the accountability of the producer for the overall sound of the record, and their responsibility to enhance that artist's musical strengths. They also talk about the influence of the producer on the creation of the music itself. This is illustrated by the concern articulated by

Sinead O'Connor fans at the number of different producers involved in the production of her record . The worry was that all these different influences would both drown out an authentic O'Connor sound, as well as fragment and confuse the possibility of a unified and over-arching sound for the album. On the other hand, the diversity of influences and sounds was also seen as a possibility for O'Connor to find a larger audience, a possibility fans both hoped for and feared:

In some ways I'm sad to see so many people interfering with Sinead's music (producers). She herself has stated that she likes working with because he allows her to do things her way and develop her own sound. Also, I love it when Sinead's songs are UNDErproduced (unplugged, stripped down, etc.), because then the purity of her voice seems more raw and unadulterated (nobody does a capella like Sinead). BUT...I also trust Sinead to assert herself with all these new producers. Also. I'm glad that she's experimenting with herself and her voice and allowing different people to become involved with her music. In that sense, this new album is very exciting, because it seems likely that we can expect some very new sounds. These producers are so lucky, getting to hear all Sinead's new songs! Oh another thing I like about so many producers is the potential for lots of singles with lots of b-sides. For some reason I have the feeling that this is going to be her most successful album, and I'm very excited about that. And my excitement is for selfish reasons: If her fame increases, she's more likely to keep making music and doing her tours and so on (Subject: producers, [email protected], 9/2/2000).

The articulation of the imagined creative power relation between performer and producer was both an overt and covert concern in these fan discussions:

256 Well, I would hope that her producers try to get the best performance out of Sinead (though I would think that would take very little coaxing, no?). Hopefully the producers would inspire support, and encourage Sinead during the recording process. At least I thought that that was what they were to do. I suppose they make suggestions as well, but I would think Sinead would have the final say, no? Well, this is very exciting anyway I hope it works out and gives Sinead the world wide exposure she deserves (not that she doesn't already have it) (Subject Re: producers, [email protected], 10/2/2000).

The issue of creative control is a feature in most of these discussions, and is intensified by the knowledge that O'Connor produced much of her previous work. Her relinquishing of the production role is seen to be a creative act

(wanting to collaborate with other musical ideas/subjects) as well as a possible commercial move. However, for both the above fans, art and commercial success are not mutually exclusive. Certainly the fan above hopes for

commercial exposure of the record as a testament to his own aesthetic judgements (reflected in his position as Sinead O'Connor fan).

With the development of recording technology the studio environment has turned from being simply a place to record finished compositions to a compositional tool. Male performers have had to do as much collaborative work in the studio environment as women. Yet in the representation of these musical relationships, position of women weakened through the assumptions already existing concerning the abilities and creative roles of women in the music industry. The fact that most producers are men makes it fairly easy for discourses of patriarchal control to creep into album reviews. This patriarchal representation of producers as creative power brokers is illustrated through the patronising tone of many mainstream reviews. For example, although L7 is often praised for their rebellious performances and appropriation of the male rock form, the influence of their male producers can still be understood as central to their authentic sound:

257 Credit must be given to producers Rob Gavallo () and , who appears to have convinced the girls to let it all hang out and take the kind of chances that set them apart in the first place. The Beauty Process: Triple Platinum brings L7 back to their original raison d'etre (Gulla, 1999 Online).

The authority of the male producers is obvious in their relationship to "the girls" who make up the band. In the context of the narratives of rock history, this can be read as a more general understanding of women in rock as master­

minded by male producers, managers, and writers.91 While the producers are named, not all L7 members are mentioned individually. It also draws upon

associations of girls being involved in popular music as members of the audience, rather than being the performer. Paradoxically, the designation of the

L7 members as girls also resonates with the 'positive' rock discourses of youthful fun and rebellion. Since the formation of rock 'n' roll as a site of

cultural practice it has been segregated from 'adult' culture. Even though the rock market has expanded to include all age groups, especially in terms of sales

of re-issued old recordings, an ideology of youth as the authentic expression of alienation, and the core motivation of new popular music still remains. The recent re-appropriation of girlhood in the cultural texts and practices of the riot grrrl, of significance to the L7 audience, makes the patriarchal reading of the

term "girls" challengeable in this context. Yet the power relations, represented by the media, between the male producer and female performer are continually reinscribed in the language of album reviews.92

91 The rock history of all-female bands is often understood as one of male sexual exploitation, girls and women being used as a sexual novelty factor. are the classic example of such dismissive descriptions. Although the narrative of exploitation has obvious truths it often is told at the expense of the recognition of the musical and fan legacy of such performers. 92 For example, male producers are seen as in control in the following review, "Under the eagle eyes of knob twiddlers Tom Rothrock and (, ), the original LA. grunge goddesses take a different on their sixth outing" (Stovall, 1999 Online). However, there is some ambiguity as to the creative relationship with the labelling of L7 as "goddesses" giving them a powerful position as women in control. Yet the description of the producer's position as above them, through the metaphor of their "eagle eyes", does inscribe the male producers as Gods above these Goddesses.

258 No female performer can ultimately escape from the discourses of creativity which are made meaningful through patriarchal oppositions and values. Even performers like L7 who have appropriated the masculinity of rock and the authenticity such a musical form entails, can be understood as creatively limited, in need of male rock expertise. Individual female performers, who are seen overwhelmingly as capable and creative musicians, at times attract criticisms and cynicism as to their 'true' role. A rather scathing profile of Bjork claims that she uses the creative energies and ideas of her production collaborators, "She does weird, waily pop diva. Her producers do the rest.

Often they do even more than that. Which leaves her free to turn on the kooky gamine charm..." (Elliott, 1997:5).

Bjork's pop diva position is placed in opposition with the 'real' musical talent of her producers. Bjork provides the ornamentation, and the entertainment, while the musical technicians provide the musical innovation. In the same article that clearly positions her as a "opportunist", she articulates the double standard:

It happens to be that a lot of boys do beats, and a lot of girls tend to be more lyrical. If a boy does a record with beats, say someone like or , and they have several singers on it, that's cool, but if a singer does a record and gets several people to do beats, they're stealing (Bjork quoted in Elliot, 1997:7).

Bjork's perceived role as the singer is both a blessing and a curse, both inspiring praise for her skill, but also made suspect in regards to her other creative input.

However, with Bjork's continuing presence as a songwriter, and her producing credits, her position as a unique and talented vocalist is secured. Her ability to reproduce her voice in live concerts is part of her authenticity, showing that she is clearly author of her own voice, "...catching Bjork actually doing those bizarre vocal live, with no studio assistance, is always something of a

259 shock..." (Gill, 1994:152). Her more recent 'hands on' approach to production gives her a relatively stable creative identity, although negotiated through various degrees of eccentricity (e.g. Kessler, 1997 Online).

Individuality

The kind of authorship which is mobilised in popular music criticism, as discussed above, relies on a discourse of individuality/individualism which designates an autonomous subject who acts on society. Individuality is a central concept requiring deconstruction if we are to understand why some creative

acts are seen as authentic and others are positioned as artificial and commercial.

In linking the artists to the musical text, the concept of individuality produces

an aural persona for a performer, which can be called a musical identity.

Authorship as an individual role, as we have already seen, is clearly a part of this construction of individuality. Roland Barthes describes the way

individualism is constructed around art texts. He says:

The explanation of a work is always sought in the man or woman who produced it, as if it were always in the end, through the more or less transparent allegory of fiction, the voice of a single person, the author 'confiding' in us (Barthes, 1977:143).

This understanding of individualism through authorship, and transparent

communication, can be seen in the reviews of Kate Bush's musical status and

identity. Although her music, as seen earlier in this chapter, at times is

criticised, her musical status as an individual is never questioned, "Despite the elaborate trimmings, Bush's music remains profoundly human, earthy and moving" (McKenna, 1989 Online). Another review claims, "Clearly she has the strength of character to follow her own instincts, her own values - and her own way of working" (Stokes, 1989 Online). A discourse of individualism operates

260 to express authenticity as an individual will, rather than something shaped by patriarchal or capitalist structures. In many cases, this individualism is articulated in terms of both Bush's difference to the mainstream sounds/values, and her individual personality - usually described as eccentric. For example, her album Red Shoes is defined by Rolling Stone as "...offbeat pop that refines but doesn't sacrifice her signal eccentricity" (Rolling Stone, 1993 Online) while Bush herself is described as "..dippy English ingenue..." (Heath, 1993 Online).

In contrast, pop performers like Kylie Minogue are criticised for not having individuality. The conclusion reached by Casimir and others in reviewing the Kylie Minogue album is that it lacks any musical individuality:

It's competent, professional and comfortable, but there's not much in the way of identity, not much in the way of risk or ambition. In staying safe, it will keep the fan-base happy, and no doubt swell it by a few more, but her arrival as a definable, individual talent has been postponed again. Maybe next time (Casimir, 1994:8s).

In a similar vein, a Rolling Stone review of the same album says, "...she only co- writes one of the ten tracks...There is no distinct Minogue sound" (Mast, 1994:82). These examples suggests that there are degrees of authenticity depending upon what genre the music is situated in and from what musical understanding the critic is coming from. The mainstream discourse on

Minogue's album is that her 'manipulation' to gain credibility is not enough for her to be recognised as a true and individual artist. Her positioning as puppet is one example of how the authentic discourse of traditional rock claims authenticity through the notion of authorship. Thus the professionalism alluded to, in regards to her producers, is in opposition to the discourse of individual rebellion and creative raw authenticity. In Minogue's case her raw tools of creativity do not even extend to her regular position as singer, Minogue carrying the rather comic label of the "singing budgie" (Casimir, 1994:8s).

261 Originality

The division made between a commercial musical identity and an individual identity, circulates through the designation of the aesthetic value of originality.

Originality is a cornerstone of authentic creativity and it is manifested in the figure of the autonomous artist. Regev's outline of the main legitimising features of rock aesthetics describes an original text as one containing "...some kind of complexity or uniqueness of aesthetic form and of social, philosophical or psychological meanings" (Regev, 1992:26). The recognition of this uniqueness is an act of cultural hegemony in that although there is struggle and tension over the legitimacy of a text, there continues to remain a set of ideal measures that are most often accepted as indicators of creative authenticity and thus musical originality.

Although authorship is one of the possible indicators of originality it is certainly not the only criterion. In fact, the position of songwriter or producer does not automatically produce an evaluation of originality. Originality goes beyond authorship into the valuing of musical texts through their associations with other musical and cultural texts. Many examples of this process of evaluation can be seen in the reviews of various female performers recordings.

For example, most judgments of Kate Bush's records contain a notion of her originality through both overt and more subtle comparisons. Some reviewers claim that it is the fact that she cannot be understood through comparison with any other performer that makes her unique. One magazine expresses

Bush's originality in these terms:

The trouble with Kate Bush is once you've listened to her music it makes the rest of your record collection redundant ~ everything else pales into

262 insignificance against the fabulously original, mystical, magical music she makes (Number One, 1989 Online).

Other reviewers state similar sentiments:

A Kate Bush album is unlike anything else. There are no comparative works against which it can be judged. It just is. Kate Bush has successfully defined an area of modern Rock music for herself. She herself becomes the only reference point by which her world makes any sense. It's a unique situation (Dickson, 1989 Online).

This status of having no comparison adds to the perception of her originality, with Bush often being understood as the originator of a new female musical style (also see Needs, 1989 Online):

...you can't help but notice that the children of Kate Bush are everywhere. More than any other female vocalist/songwriter since Joni Mitchell, Bush has been studied and dissected, her lines and vocal mannerisms carefully copied. She's become the model for a whole flock of introspective, journal- keeping women who strive for more than the everyday guitar- accompanied confessional.

Bush's neo-gothic sound and otherworldly imagery was, for years, one of the few alternatives to "girl" pop, so it's inevitable that aspiring artists such as Tori Amos...would crib from the Bush catalogue (Moon, 1994 Online).

The emphasis on individuality in articulating originality is also seen in fan discussions. The comparison between Bush and Amos is not only a theme in media reviews but also fan lists. However, these comparisons are sometimes resisted because of the possible damage this comparison could do to Amos' authentic original reputation, "Tori is nothing like Kate Bush, though she has been accused of it so often" (Subject Re: Tori nothing like Kate Bush, rec.music.tori-amos, 15/3/96). For this fan it is an accusation, or a fault, to be described as similar to another female performer because it is risky in the

263 authenticity stakes. It is also a question of fan identity and keeping this identity special and unique:

...it doesn't necessarily follow that if you like Tori, you'll like Kate (or visa- versa). Both artists are different, both exceptionally talented. Just enjoy them both whilst they are still making music (Subject Re: Kate Bush, recmusic.tori-amos, 14/3/96).

The emphasis on difference, in sound and /or attitude, is at the heart of such discussions:

>Its so much nicer to hear women/ girls being weird than women/girls >who play it by the rules. that's probably b/c they're willing to experiment and be creative...they're willing not to be cookie-cutter, and to take risks, which is admirable IMHO (Subject -R- "chick music", rec.music.tori-amos, 13/2/98).

Like Kate Bush, P.J. Harvey is one of the most authentically positioned performer in terms of artistic integrity and originality in evaluations by the music press. In the following profile, Harvey is seen as the original in comparison to other female acts that have emerged. There is an obvious emphasis on creating a female canon, a hierarchical set of texts with Harvey at the top:

...To Bring You My Love dropped out of the in just over three months. Other acts stepped in, offering up Cliff Notes - pop versions of her enigmatic vision - Alanis Morissette the man-size rage, Bjork the eccentric mystery, Elastica the ironic sneer, Garbage the chic flash. But it was Harvey who wrote the book, the Great Novel we'll be rereading years from now (Aaron, 1996:58).

This example clearly mobilises authorship as a central criteria of originality,

Harvey being the originator of female imitators like Morissette (e.g. see Michel,

1999:117).

264 However, the designation of original status is often disputed. This is more obviously the case when a performer is not clearly recognised within rock discourses of authenticity. For example, in the case of Madonna, her popularity and status as a great manipulator of popular taste works against the traditional discourse of the original author. Her apparently calculated appropriations of different visual and sonic styles can paradoxically be understood as original, although as the following fan debate states, there are the contradictions present in claiming authentic originality for popular female performers:

:>Pop music has undergone significant change over the past 10 years and :>the comment that Madonna and her ever changing image hasn't had :>impact is so silly, it would be ignored in most intelligent conversation.

:WHERE did i "comment that Madonna and her ever-changing image :hasn't had an impact"? you've read something into my comment that was :never intended, and never even inferred! i said her "image" was : :NOTH_NG NEW, which it isn't now, and never has been.

I can't buy that. Huh uh. The blend of sex and religion that has been present in her music and images from early times was new for a woman, i might agree it isn't completely original, but she did it with an unmistakable style that brought her recognition. It is now hard to find a woman in pop music that doesn't borrow from Madonna (Subject Re: Madonna Slags Courtney to Her Face!, alt.music.alternative.female, 13/9/95).

Another Madonna fan makes the argument that because Madonna changes her musical styles and themes, she has more artistic credibility than other mainstream female performers:

We're not dealing with Mariah or Whitney who re-hash the same old shit over and over exploring the same old themes and styles of music..It's unfortunate that they sell millions, but who cares...The real value is the album itself...and as far as artistic value...Ray of Light is priceless (Subject: Ray of Light is brilliant, alt.fan.madonna, 4/3/98).

On the same thread this interpretation of originality in Madonna's album Ray of

Light is repeated, but with a twist. Madonna may have begun as a commercially

265 driven pop performer/writer but now she has grown into a more artistic musician. The evidence for this argument consists of an internal comparison of

Madonna's musical output between her Ray of Light album and her previous work:

I was surprised to see some negative reviews by fans (heck the CRITICS are RAVING!!!). If you fans out there were expecting an album full of Vogues...this ain't (sic) what ye'll (sic) get. Come on...she's grown out of those dull, one-dimensional pop songs...here's a deep album, full of meaning and beautiful and sounds. Madonna has revolutionized pop music, and taken great risks to release such a different album (Subject: Ray of Light is brilliant, alt.fan.madonna, 4/3/98).

This narrative of growth is also repeated in the music press where in Ray of

Light is seen as "Easily her most mature and personal work to date" (Billboard,

1998 Online).

Although Madonna may not be seen in the same individual creative league as

Kate Bush or P.J. Harvey, like them, she is represented as taking risks and exploring musical diversity. Her originality is described in terms of her appropriation of subcultural and 'alternative' sounds for a mass market:

...Madonna's great gift is to spot the cult trend of the moment, employ that sound's master craftsmen....and overlay her own pop-dance sensibilities. What's extraordinary is how thoroughly Madonna has immersed herself in unfamiliar, and commercially unproven, musical territory (Anderman, 1998 Online).

Honesty

It is not only originality and authorship that are part of the dominant discourses legitimising and evaluating the performer as creative subject, but also the intentional honesty of a performer. As Regev points out, this notion can be seen

266 operating in two ways. Firstly, there is the understanding that the music expresses the true essence of the individual subject. Secondly, the concept of the individual truth of the artist, previously mentioned, cannot exist without a

"..commitment of the creative entity to the truth of the work, without foreign considerations of practicality, profitability, etc." (Regev, 1992:26). An artist cannot represent her true self if other outside considerations are taken into account in the writing and performing of the material. However, this is a contradictory theme in rock discourse as modern popular music is made overwhelmingly for some kind of audience. "Musicians make records so that their music can be heard, but they must make them without appearing to be in the embrace of the corporate beast"(Coyle and Dolan, 1999: 23). The notion of honesty is embedded within a commercial/artistic dichotomy which is regularly used to evaluate musical work. For example, Bjork is praised for her truthfulness by opposing her to pop:

At a time when the charts are full of manufactured pop, when supermodels and celebrities are prized for their skill at games of artifice and glamour, hers is a singular voice of honesty. And "Debut" is the sound of an artist, sometimes wining, sometimes failing, but always struggling to be herself (Eshun, 1993:54).

Her voice here is a metaphor for her true identity, which is tied to her originality and individuality, and juxtaposed with a surface level culture of image and pleasure. Certainly there have been other discourses which have constructed her as manipulative rather than 'natural'. Bjork often plays the

'little girl', but combined with her significant position as credited author, and often producer of her own work, her work is seen as a reflection of her identity.

The critics can read from her lyrics that she is a complex and self-critical 'real' self:

Bjork may strain to channel wisdom through her whimsy...but she is also capable of powerful honesty: "How could I be so immature/To think he would replace/The missing element in me?/How extremely lazy of me!"

267 ("Immature").93 She may look like she's from Mars, but Bjork is very much of this world (Fricke, 1997a: 139).

Honesty is the revelation of the performer's true self. This narrative was particularly noticeable in the media representation of Madonna's recordings from 1998 onwards. The music on her Ray of Light album was described as

"...the most human music she's ever made. Each song seems like a dissection of her psyche" (Schoemer, 1998 Online). The artists construction of her own lyrics, and their critical tone, makes Madonna's performance authentically real as a human rather than a 'star', and she becomes ordinary and accessible to her audience:

She's singing as if the lyrics she has written are a declaration of the dependence we humans share with each other. These will grab even the casual listener because they resonate with basic life truths and are performed with sincerity (Aquilante, 1998 Online).

Certainly the criterion of honesty, however constructed, is dominant in the representations of the musical subject and a source of identification between the audience and the performer. As one Morissette fan states, "Alanis is a person that I really like cause she is really honest, she is natural..." (Subject Re:

New to onelist, [email protected], 6/2/99). In such statements an honesty of performance is a reflection of the real performer, however fans often re-negotiate the criterion for making such knowledge claims.

For example, fans argue for Madonna's use of lip-synching positioning other criteria of performance as just as important as vocal liveness, including dance and visual spectacle. Fans argued against a traditional notion of authentic live performance where the "...essence or truth of music was located in its

93 Although these lyrics obviously have a possible feminist reading it is interesting to note that the reviewer does not mention this but rather constructs Bjork as an individual rather than a political subject.

268 performance by musicians in front of an audience" (Thorton, 1996:26) in favour of a more flexible view which allows for Madonna's contextual use of a backing track:

More and more recently, lipsynching has been used to slam artists who do not sing live along with their music. I don't think that its a valid critique in most contexts; 'course, when you just stand there and lipsynch, then the audience is bound to get bored with you, but in EY in the Blond Ambition tour, for instance, I'm glad Madonna lipsynched; she would have RUINED the song and the performance if she tried to make the moves she did and sing as well! Do you go to a Madonna show so that you can LISTEN to the music... or so that you can SEE Madonna perform? (Subject Re: What's wrong with lipsyching, alt.fan.madonna, 21/11/95).

This fan is quite prepared to have Madonna mime some songs because his/her criteria for an authentic live performance focus on the spectacle of dance and movement more than aural codes. The sense of hearing and vision are mobilised in an alternative pop aesthetic which subverts the dominance of sound, and traditional musicality.

On the other hand, there are fans who are uncomfortable with Madonna lyp- syuching which, according to one fan, was more pronounced in The Blonde

Ambition Tour than others:

Madonna employs top-notch musicians for her shows, and I want to hear them PLAY. That's what made the lip-synching at "THE GIRLIE SHOW" a lot easier to deal with: the band played live, and plus the songs were rearranged. So they were new things to listen to; not just a tape. Also, it was for only 4 songs, and... it was pretty obvious. The rest of the show was completely live. In "BLOND AMBITION", though, it was a constant guessing game. The deception really bothers me. If she's going to lip- synch in order to do other things, fine, but let's not try to fake out the audience-

Madonna is an awesome singer with an awesome voice. She is so emotional. Lip-synching completely destroys that (Subject Re: What's wrong with lipsynching, alt.fan.madonna, 21/11/95).

269 This comment is in contrast to that of the fan who accepts lip-synching as appropriate for her style of performing. The above view contains some of the traditional ideas about the rock performer being 'truthful' or honest to her audience. This posting is certainly by a fan, but it represents some of the tensions and contradictions that audience members negotiate, sometimes without any real closure. It also illustrates the way in which female performers, working in pop genres as opposed to rock, can be linked to discourses of the feminine already outlined, such as femme fatale deception and vanity.

Although fans accept the necessity for lip-synching, this approval is usually within a certain context. For example, when Madonna performed her single

'' on the Rosie O'Donnell show speculation of whether she lip-synched or not revealed the criteria in which fans found this acceptable. One fan suggested that a free-to-air performance of a song on television was not a performance that the fan had paid for and therefore did not require the

'liveness' which would be expected for a 'real' concert experience. Another states:

I don't care if she sang live or if she didn't. She looked phenomenal, it was all fun on the show. I think everybody needs to get over did she or didn't she, or the interview was boring WHATEVER! Everybody on here is starting to sound like a critic for the Boston Globe or something. I'm just thankful that Miss M is still around, not a drug addict, always keeping her fans satisfied and keeping up with ....By the way, the Frozen performance did sound exactly like the album, but if she was lip synching, her lips were so in synch with the words that I found it amazing. I'm not worried if she did it live or not...She will be touring this year, and Til see and hear her live then

Just an opinion, not a critic (Subject: did she or didn't she!!!!!, alt. fan.madonna, 15/3/98).

These conflicts over the acceptability of lip-synching in Madonna's performances point to a larger issue of listening practices and the different

270 meanings attached to musical contexts. Differing approaches to fan listening/viewing, and the pleasures derived from them, were illustrated in many fan groups online.94 This Madonna fan positions herself as different to official critics, and articulating different criteria to judge her musical performance.

Non-Commercial Interests

Related to the above aspects of authentic creativity and musical identity is the designation of "A commitment of the creative entity to the truth of the work, without foreign considerations of practicality, profitability, etc" (Regev, 1992:26). Originality, individuality and honesty are often substitutes for the representation of non-commercial interests in a musical text and we have already seen how feminism and femininity are negotiated and positioned within this concern. Earlier it has been shown how pop and rock, although rather ambiguous musical labels, are nevertheless mobilised to indicate a ideological divide between the commercial (feminine) and the artistic (masculine). Yet there is a contradiction for both men and women in claiming a non-commercial or anti-commercial artistic intention. For one thing the media has been part and parcel of popular music promotion and for audiences, increasingly this has become the main source of contact and knowledge about music.95 This is especially evident in the experiences, practices and knowledge

94 One Tori Amos fan, for example, pointed out the difference between listening to her recordings for the instrumental techniques as compared to the lyrical/vocal message stating, "I keep running into people who listen to music only for the bass line, or , or there's a really cool guitar solo. Yeah, I like that stuff too but I listen to the lyrics. This guy [referring to a friend] doesn't. So I get this feeeling (sic) that he isn't really connecting, but then I think, well he is but not the same way I do. Somehow I still feel as though he's missing the point" (Subject: Re: Feelin (sic) the music, recmusic.tori-amos, 1/3/95). 95 The issue of 'selling out' was one that arrived via the counter-culture. However, as Mary Harron points out hippy culture and rock music were "...still part of a mass market culture. It defined itself through things - records, posters, clothes, drugs - that were bought and sold. Its liberation from capitalism was always largely illusory..." (1988:180).

271 of fans. In all online groups studied, the reporting and posting of media appearances (such as press interviews, magazine covers, film cameos, video clips) promoted a significant amount of discussion. These included the commercial techniques of promotion in regard to record company decisions of art work, single releases, and the possible performer's role in promotions. In fact, the comments from fans of certain performers reveal a critical discourse concerned with the way marketing constructs artists for a potential consumer

audience. For example, there was a debate in both Tori Amos and Kate Bush

newsgroups concerning whether they should be compared by the music press

and through music industry marketing:

...when I read a review of "Little Earthquakes" in early 1992, Tori was compared to the likes of a.o. Kate Bush, but that was also the way I got to listen to , Sam Brown and Mylene Farmer, to name a few. Upon listening to the album I saw every comparison fade away - except for the fact that, simply said, they both play the piano and they both are female (Subject: The never ending Kate/Tori debate, rec.music.gaffa, 11/5/97).

A reply to this thread was:

Help me out on this one here... You deny that in the US marketed her as a Kate clone -- yet you indicate that you bought it "because" of the same marketing! I don't get it...

I can't attest to how WEA marketed Tori outside the US, but here in the states, the plan was specific, thorough, and extremely obvious. In a couple record stores in South Florida, Tori came to be known as "the poor man's Kate"....

...you simply can't deny the fact that Atlantic Records marketed Tori to specifically cater to Kate's fans (Subject: The never ending Kate/Tori debate, rec.music.gaffa, 11/5/97)

The above reply reflects confusion and maybe even irritation at the

contradictions contained in the other fan's explanation. The first respondent

acknowledges that he/she would have never have bought the Tori Amos

272 album had it not been compared to Kate Bush, however, the post goes on to say that the comparison was over-exaggerated in the media. This represents the way fans engage with music on a negotiated level between the marketing and the actual musical works themselves. It also presents a narrative of

transcendence from market manipulation to discerning audience. While initially buying the album for a promised set of qualities the fan takes the opportunity to articulate her/his own aesthetic judgements beyond those constructed for her/him within the cultural and economic economy of the music industry.

This exchange not only shows how important other media are in promoting music, but also raises the question of fan authenticity, and the internal

negotiations which define it. Although the actual criterion of authentic fandom changes over time and place, in general this concept defines a subjective fan

view, a position which delineates the proper practices, beliefs and experiences

attached to being a 'true' fan. Fans position themselves as worthy individuals and communities by defining themselves against other fans and a particular performer's supposed individuality or lack of. The criticisms of Alanis Morissette across many newsgroups not only represent the embodiment of a divide between artistic expression and commercialism, but also a divide

between the duped fan and those with discerning judgement:96

Alanis' "fame" is based on marketing, not music. Whether it lasts will depend on how many people keep supporting her after the novelty wears off and the industry finds a new face to promote (Subject Re: Courtney/Alanis, alt.fan.courtney-love, 6/3/96).

96 In the Madonna and Courtney Love usenet groups some gratuitous debates flourished over the differences between Morissette, as 'fake' and commercially manipulative, and Madonna and Love, as 'real' performers. Obviously some of this debate was an excuse for bored posters to start flame wars, a common phenomena on the public newsgroups that are unmoderated.

273 The importance of constructing a performer as an 'artist' rather than a mere commercial entertainer is clear in nearly all the online discussion groups that focus on performers cited in this thesis. This positioning is based on delineating commercial success from critical success. This tension between a commercial measurement of success and artistic integrity is played out in fan discussions concerning P.J. Harvey:

>I don't know about others on this list, but I don't want Polly to be a >megastar in the least. this seems selfish, but I feel the same way. I mean what polly wants should be the most important, but at the same time I don't want polly to release a single that will make her seem like a so that when I say she is my favorite I don't sound like every musicland customer. I mean it would be good to draw attention to her earlier work but only to people who appreciate its brilliance, not the current fad. does this make sense? also I love tbyml [To Bring You My Love] but sometimes it just doesn't compare to the first three, its great but I dont think it is nearly as essential, but at the same time I think it is very important that she released it. dry is the biggest masterpiece in my opinion. ...(Subject Re: changes at , [email protected], 4/8/98).

In the above there is a clear connection between fan identity and the

performer's status as authentic musician. Commercialism is feared by certain

fans because it undermines their own status as discerning consumers. Another

fan, however, tries to argue for Harvey's commercial success as long as her

music is not affected:

...for years I have known people who feel that for one of their favorite artists to get really popular is somehow a bad thing -1 say who cares? - if the artist still has the qualities that got you to love them in the first place, then so what? it could affect them adversely, but maybe it will affect them positively - I think it is more about the fan feeling more special about the artists they like when they are not "big" - it is a private little love affair. I can't understand that, but its about their music, right? I can't imagine someone as intense as p.j. harvey watering her music down (Subject Re: Changes at island records, [email protected], 3/8/98).

274 The question of commercial success versus artistic integrity is a strong opposition, yet here there is a negotiation of this split or at least an acknowledgment of the possibility of having both commercial and critical success. This fan also points out that fans themselves have an agenda in keeping an 'elite' status through maintaining this divide.

For fans of performers like Madonna and Kylie Minogue the commercial measures of record sales and radio airplay are often seen as important in the overall success of their music-star.97 Rather than signifying "standardized" or

"formula" music (Frith, 1996:96), the chart success of more recent releases by

Madonna and Minogue have become a way of signifying authentic performance talent. In being able to obtain audience recognition over a long period of time fans can argue that this proves that a performer like Minogue is more than just a fashionable one hit wonder or commercial entertainer.

Conclusion

Patriarchal power relations help construct the material and ideological positions women performers can occupy as popular musical performers.

Official gatekeepers of musical knowledge and criticism continue to represent the popular musical performer through romantic ideals of authorship, individualism, originality, honesty and non-commercialism. Thus the subject position, if taken up by women (in this form), is a difficult one to maintain if we consider the other competing subjectivities and discourses of the feminine and the feminist. Yet there are negotiations and contradictions in the discourses of fans and critics that disrupt and attempt to set up alternative codes of creative

97 For example, around the time of the release of the album Light Years Minogue fans watched and reported back on chart positions and discussed and compared previous chart rankings.

275 authenticity and credibility. This can be seen, for example, in the negotiated criterion used by the fans of Madonna. The importance placed on dance and visual spectacle mean that the use of backing tapes are often accepted as part and parcel of getting a good all round performance, one that is exciting visually as well as sonically. Yet Madonna fans are still concerned with discussing her media representations, whether as evidence of their own 'good' taste or as critiques of a misguided and narrow minded society. As Fiske notes, contradiction is implicit in fandom. As a form of popular culture it is "...formed outside and often against official culture, on the other it expropriates and reworks certain values and characteristics of that official culture to which it is opposed" (Fiske, 1992:34). These contradictions can be seen in the fan cultures cited. While on one level fans hope for positive reviews and strengthened critical and /or commercial success, they also are wary of such success. By doing so they construct their differences from the general population and more specifically from the music establishment (whether conceived of as too conservative or too alternative).

276 CONCLUSION

In seeking to analyse the question of how female subjectivity, in relation to feminine, feminist and creative subject positions, is constructed around female musical performance, this thesis has explored the media and fan representations of eleven female popular musical acts. These performers embody many, even contradictory, discourses concerning the subject positions of the feminine, the feminist and the creative woman. These discourses give insight into the gender power relations of the last twenty years and the struggles to re-negotiate and re-evaluate gender differences within the male/female dichotomy of Western thinking. Musical culture has had a major role in both reflecting outside political, social and economic institutions and changes, and also in constructing opportunities and boundaries in which individuals and groups find meaning. In this conclusion the possibilities for feminist readings are examined as well as the continuing limits which patriarchal power deploys in the popular cultural realm of the music critic and fan discourses.

Singing a New Song?

In exploring female subjectivities, the role and representation of the singer and her voice has been central to this thesis. This is because women as performers in popular music have been more likely to access this musical role as opposed to others, such as instrumentalist or composer. In both Western classical, folk and urban popular music, the female vocalist has clearly been one route to a professional musical career. Indeed it is argued that the historical figure of the

277 diva, coming from an operatic musical tradition, continues to thrive in the popular music context, constructing meanings about femininity, feminism and creativity. She encompasses many discourses over different contexts, and is often used in contradictory ways to embody gendered aesthetic values of authenticity. For example, patriarchal discourse promotes the popular diva as both an ideal or normalised musical position as well as a threatening or abnormal one. From both positions, patriarchal statements of knowledge about the female voice continue to construct dichotomies based on gender differences, including: creative/commercial, mind/body, culture/nature, art/entertainment, objective/subjective, where the feminine opposes the masculine.

In analysing the singer as a musical semiotic site, this thesis also argues for a social analysis of the voice rather than a biological one. The voice has for too long been seen merely as an extension of the body rather than a cultural source of communication. For women, the essentialisation of the voice has had powerful consequences in relation to claiming a creative identity. Seeing the voice as merely a body part, and romanticising the voice as a natural feminine mode of expression, can devalue the singer's work as well as her collaborations.

Although feminism may appropriate such representations as a symbol of difference the slippages between the meaning of 'nature' and woman, illustrated in my media analysis, exemplify the risks of celebrating a feminine aesthetic without challenging such a dichotomy of the body and mind.

Nevertheless, within a rock discourse, patriarchal discourses of the feminine can be both reinforced and challenged. For example, the feminine figure of the mother, and the discourse of nurturing and unconditional love, is placed in opposition to a stereotypical rebellious rock discourse. Femininity as a reflection of nature - spontaneous and honest - reverberates with rock

278 authenticity and thus generates debates between commercial values and creative ones. Femininity when constructed as natural can appropriate criteria of authentic creativity, that is an authenticity without commercial concerns.

However, the sexualised femininity of the femme fatale, who represents female sexuality as manipulative, creates further contradictions. She sits in opposition to authentic rock expression, but also paradoxically gives the feminine some masculine traits of ambition, ruthlessness and sexual aggression.

Thus in analysing the performers and performances through various representations, it can be emphasised that femininity is a contextual historical construction which is not fixed or universal in meaning. In fact, this multiplicity of femininities, as seen above, allows for contradictions and tensions which open alternative ways of thinking through feminine meanings. Rock as a discourse can provide spaces for women to play out and experiment with femininity at a visual and musical level. However, what seems to be central to patriarchal representations is the binary language used to describe femininity both in a comparison to masculinity, but also in a comparison with itself, that is between 'good' femininity and 'bad' femininity. Still, this valuing of femininity is contextual. A 'good' femininity within a rock context may be one that is sexually permissive and boastful, in a "cock rock" tradition (see Frith and

McRobbie, 1990). Permissive sexuality acts as a sign of rebellion against a society of good taste and manners. In fact, the sexually active persona of the whore/femme fatale acts as a foil against the domesticated feminine who represents the established conservative attitudes and practices of mainstream society (see Palmer, 1997:104). Yet, the whore figure, even within the context of rock, is particularly vulnerable to re-appropriation back into the 'bad' feminine category, becoming a "...territory to be colonised and controlled" (Palmer,

1997:106). The difficulty and reluctance of women to access the rock performance, and the practices of the band formula, at the level of national and

279 international success, relate partly to the double standards of male and female sexuality. For example, Courtney Love and her representation as 'creatively suspect' represents the way her performance of the knowing sexual subject is read onto her as a 'real life' femme fatale, stealing and seducing male genius for her own fame.

This tension between rock and femininities can be explained through patriarchal and counter discourses of authenticity. Indeed what is being played out in the struggles over femininity and its meaning is a central dichotomy of the authentic and the artificial, which in the context of popular musical becomes combined with questions of musical authenticity. For example this thesis has argued that the feminine often stands in for a musically suspect and artificial

commercialism, through the femme fatale and a sexualised female adolescence.

Yet although this thesis has shown how patriarchy seeks to normalise

femininity within an commercial/artistic and nature /culture dichotomy, there

are performances which challenge patriarchy in resolving these tensions. The

cross-dressing strategies of women, in terms of both musical and visual images,

have allowed for a questioning of the 'naturalness' of men and women. In fact

by using femininity through traditional stereotypes, performers like Courtney

Love, Annie Lennox, P.J. Harvey, Tori Amos can be stereotyped by a

patriarchal media, but are also able to be re-negotiated through feminist

readings, which re-position these women as positive active participants in their

own sexual displays. For example, Love's construction of herself as uglified sex-

object in her earlier career, as well as a musical accompaniment of punk

distortion and masochistic lyrics, means that her current more glamorous image

can be read as an ironic mask, while at the same time Hole can attract a larger

audience by using the traditional images of feminine glamour. This example

exposes the way potential feminist messages can be partially subsumed within

palatable media forms (see Cranny-Francis, 1992:174).

280 In allowing for a more subversive reading of feminist meanings and practices we can see how power, intertwined with discourse/knowledge, is not simply a top-down force of oppression. Patriarchal elements can be appropriated in the interests of other groups and discourses. However, at the same time many women struggle to be recognised as authentically present in their work, by trying to reflect a 'personal truth' as well as a musical one. The influence of romanticism and rock in defining the creative subject have been pervasive within current popular genres, and for women this status is negotiated through binary oppositions related to femininity and a discourse of individualism. This is illustrated by some performers who distance themselves from a seemingly organised political identity like feminism and/or the generalised gender category of women. Certainly, the media plays a part in framing the 'serious' female performer over the ephemeral entertainer, mobilising criteria of authorship, originality, and honesty. Furthermore, many of the women analysed are conscious of the way the media can both promote authenticity and deny it. In fact, there is an underlying caution and concern over how the media represents their star identities.

This caution exists and seems especially acute in relation to the reluctance of performers to identify with feminism and/or to acknowledge gender as an influence on them. L7 exemplify the fear of being represented through gender in their refusal to engage with questions about their gender in media interviews. The concern is, especially for all female bands like L7, that gender will be represented as genre, and consequently marginalise women as musical performers. Media labels like "women in rock" and "riot grrrls" risk becoming markers of a lesser musical value and relevance as the category of women/girls is made suspect in an idealised all male rock community. Those performers who have claimed a feminist identity, for example Courtney Love and Sinead

281 O Connor, have also been represented as highly controversial figures, causing concern and even condemnation. Complaints from critics of whingeing women's voices, representing the deluded false perspective of feminist victim hood, is both overtly and covertly expressed in such cases. Feminism becomes a distortion of reality through an irrational even demented female point-of-view.

Here madness and emotional excess come to stand in for feminism as a musical identity. Paradoxically here the patriarchal feminist and feminine subject are collapsed into one.

In short, feminism is not a word or an identity that has been embraced as an indication of a normalised subjectivity or an ultimate ingredient of success. This conclusion seems to reflect a broader ambiguity and confusion within women's lives, and the media, as to the benefits and meaning of feminism. As shown in

Chapters six and seven, debate over feminism and its impact and relevance has been a major topic which has spawned a genre of popular literature, and certainly has seen the emergence of new anti-feminist voices. Yet this does not mean that feminism as an identity or a set of practices is not an acknowledged or recognisable reading position. What has happened is that feminism has been subsumed under other labels and other subject positions such as riot grrrls, women in rock, and post-feminists. Although this makes it more difficult to pinpoint a unified, easily identifiable, feminist subject, it also reflects a more flexible feminist politics in the face of patriarchal discrimination. The negative media press which has surrounded second wave feminism has severely damaged feminist identification at the level of a social movement, along with the continuing presentation of feminism as anachronistic.

Yet patriarchal discourse does not need to de-value feminism to marginalise it.

Rather it can work to create inaccessible authentic position which few women can ever live up to. Selected ideas from feminism(s) can be used to such ends

282 where feminist subjectivity becomes a mark of moral superiority, a-sexuality (or lesbianism), and high political commitment. Often women's inability to identify with feminism arises from such high expectations. In such representations the feminist subject can be recognised because she struggles within a masculine context, embracing masculine strategies, forms and styles of musical success.

This kind of construction can be seen in the early career of P.J. Harvey where her gender neutral look and positions as a woman leading a rock band gave her a feminist status, even if she herself denied such an influence. In this particular version feminism and femininity are opposed - one negates the other.

No matter what the mainstream media presents, however, there is evidence for a sustained feminist awareness within fan discussions and in some media representations. This thesis has argued that both vocal performance, and the diva role, provide opportunities for feminist readings, through the mere presence of her voice, but also through vocal qualities of timbre, volume, and range. In combination with genre and lyrics, the diva can become a shorthand way of evoking female strength and feminist consciousness. The diva represents the possibility for a feminist intervention in and resistance to patriarchal power relations. Her voice, although often heard as personal expression, is a public voice and by extension symbolises women's presence in a traditionally masculine space. This is particularly reinforced by the extra- musical commitments of some performers to feminist causes or ideals. Love's proclamations of her feminist identity, L7's support and funding of abortion rights for women, Amos' setting up of a national phone service for victims of incest and rape, O'Connor's recent ordination as a female priest by a break­ away sect of the Catholic church, all point to signs of potential feminist subjectivity.

283 What is missing from these possible feminist readings is the understanding of feminism as a relevant social movement providing access and opportunities for other women into the music industry, beyond abstract role models of female success. A discourse of liberal individualism remains dominant in the representation of star-texts and performers themselves seem quite unconscious or find it difficult to engage feminism at the level of conscious encouragement of other women into various musical and production roles. Performers such as

Madonna, P.J. Harvey and Annie Lennox are seen as possible feminist role models, but are also represented as extra-ordinary women who have survived and built up careers through sheer talent or ambition. In terms of dominant representations, there is silence concerning possible strategies for opening up access to musical roles through practical interventions as well as generating and representing female musical relationships. It has really only been with alternative movements like riot grrrl that and access at the level of both performance and production has been represented as a central strategy. This marginalisation can be explained through the discourses of capitalism and patriarchy, which work to confine feminism to a personal set of allegiances, or philosophies, rather than a collective movement of action. Although various performers and bands have raised money for feminist causes, as well as individual performers supporting traditional feminist issues such as anti- abortion, discourses of individual creativity remain powerful at the level of musical production.98 Feminism, at least in the majority of the performers covered here, is normalised by negating or marginalising feminism as social/group activity because it is negotiated through creativity. Individual creativity is the standard measure, with feminism being defined as a social movement that threatens the stability and reality of that measure.

98 Although Madonna could be held up as an example of unprecedented control over her own production as a star-text, with her ownership of her own (Maverick), her role is firmly within a patriarchal capitalist tradition of individual ownership and control.

284 1 atnarchal power relations remain extensive within the public realm of culture,

represented in the media. As women have gained a place as legitimate workers

in the paid workforce, the emphasis on femininity which is sexually attractive

to a male gaze has intensified for all women, rather than a select group (Walby,

1990:107). In fact, female sexuality is one of the most obvious sites in which the

feminine is made meaningful. In the context of popular music this sexual

spectacle of femininity becomes entwined in debates over musical aesthetic

values, especially in relation to the broad categories of pop and rock. As we

have seen debates rage over the obvious sexual displays of Madonna, Love, and

Minogue in both fan groups and critical comments. The diva title can thus be

used to indicate feminine traits such as narcissism, vanity, self-absorption and

sexual entrapment, even through her voice may contain highly skilled criteria.

In fact the movement, timbre and strength of the voice may be read as

commercially seductive to a particular audience, and in a particular context. For

instance, Morissette's huge commercial success, her use of a commercially

successful male producer, her teen pop past, combined with her leaping range,

nasal tone, and rock infected lyrical rage, cemented her patriarchal representation as a rather hysterical, but also a suspicious commercial construction.

Despite such constructions fan cultures, developed around mailing lists and

Usenet groups, show considerable skill in negotiating and resisting media criticisms. For some fans more vulnerable to ridicule because of their choice of star, like Kylie Minogue, their marginalisation as fans acts as a basis for community and solidarity. Fandom can thus be a badge of difference, with fans defining this difference in positive ways, against those of official critics and commentators, as well as their own immediate family and friends. Aesthetic values are thus negotiated and re-organised within these groups. The knowledge claims made by fans also exemplify how power is not simply

285 reductive but also productive. Expressions of identification with their chosen performer illustrate the micro-circulation of power/knowledge, although such knowledge may be marginalised and ignored in other media contexts. Creative female subjectivity is challenged and reconstructed in such cases. Yet, it is also noted that many fans experience similar tensions and contradictions as those found within official representations. Debates over the meaning of commercial success, and how such success influences creativity and artistic control, show the parallels between traditional rock discourses and fan talk.

This thesis also raises questions that need further research and reflect some of the weaknesses of unobtrusive textual analysis. For one thing, the positioning of fans in relation to a feminist identity requires further direct questioning to examine whether the term feminism is understood and linked to musical performances. Although the unobtrusive method of observing fan talk gives one a snap shot of the way internet fan culture works on a day-to-day basis it, cannot provide detailed information on specific issues. Thus, it was difficult to analyse feminism as a conscious point-of-view using the textual material that fans produced on their own terms, within the confines of the discussion groups. In other words, direct questioning of fans as to their own conscious understanding of the subjectivities investigated may provide a clearer picture of fan groups and identity construction through star-texts.

An analysis of recent popular male musical identities would also extend and add a significant further dimension to the question of patriarchal positioning of the creative subject. The exploration of masculinity(ies) in relation to rock discourses and notions of authentic individuality would help to further explore patriarchy, as it affects and marginalises male subjects.lt is certainly acknowledged that male as well as female performers are subjected to similar criteria of creativity, yet as has been shown in my analysis, the link between

286 femininity and pop commercialism makes women particularly vulnerable to such mainstream critiques.

Finally, despite the limitations of the research, this thesis has shown that the representation of femininity, feminism and creativity within the context of popular music is complex and contradictory, with all three subjectivities being negotiated through patriarchal discourses. Some performers are able to construct creative musical personas, yet for all those studied here dichotomies of patriarchal thinking continue to produce normalised stereotypes of female

subjectivity, with some being more easily challenged and dismissed than

others. A recent description of P.J. Harvey sums up the tensions as well as the stereotypes the female subject in a masculinised rock setting still engenders:

The feral waif in radioactive eye shadow and outsized persona is now a grown woman in a designer dress, flaunting an enviable haircut. But she still rocks like a motherfucker. At the Bowery, with veins bulging on the back of her tiny hands and nipples visibly hard, she led a revamped band...through a set tougher and more fun than the old goth kabuki (Hermes, 2001:83).

This representation contains a contradiction between femininity and rock, between patriarchal normalisation and a resistant femininity. Like many of the examples discussed female resistance is always at risk of appropriation back into a patriarchal subject, often for the gaze of the male spectator. Harvey, as a highly valued female performer within the music press, is both sexually objectified and aligned with the power of the cock rocker, with the phallic description of veins throbbing and hardened nipples. The struggle over meaning, and the continuing attempts to capture gender difference through such imagery, carry with them patriarchal power relations where femininity is at once a spectacle, and thus suspect to full musical credibility, and a normalised reflection of femaleness. Nevertheless, such representations are not the fault of individuals failing to appropriate gender-neutral images, but a

287 structural issue of power, within the reinforcing ideologies of capitalist individualism. Individuals can choose within contexts and institutional boundaries, and my analysis accepts that such decisions by performers, and fans, is contingent and strategic. But if a feminist reading can understand some of the possible contradictions, double standards, ambiguities and reformulations of gender representations, then at least we have possible new futures of gender relations which can be both imagined and put into practice.

These new possibilities change the landscape of the seemingly ahistorical essentialist boundaries of patriarchy. Women's voices continue to add to such possibilities of resistance and re-negotiation.

288 APPENDIX A

Performer Biographies

Alanis Morissette

Morissette became a popular celebrity as a child-star in Canada, appearing on a children's television show, and launching a teen music career with several pop and dance orientated albums. Although successful in Canada her international success came with her solo album Jagged Little Pill (1995). In fact this is one of the highest selling albums of all time, managing to sell eighteen million in the space of a year (see Clarke, 1998:895). The album's lyrics and her harsh vocal sound compared her previous pop persona meant that there was some question over whether this angry Alanis Morissette was 'real'. However, her androgynous look, the rock elements of her voice and musical accompaniment struck a chord with her audience, having a commercial impact that could not have been fully forecasted by even the most cynical of commercial critics. Albums include: Alanis (1991), (1992), Jagged Little Pill (1995), Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie (1998).

Annie Lennox (Eurythmics)

Lennox was born in Aberdeen (1954). She formed with David Stewart in 1977, in London, and had a hit with the cover T Only Want to Be With You'. The band split and Stewart and Lennox reformed as a duo called the Eurythmics in 1980. This musical relationship lasted till 1989 and covered the release of eight albums and multiple number one hits. Lennox's image with her short cropped hair and cross-dressing fashions lent her both credibility and sophistication to her as a 'pop artist' in her own right. The surreal and experimental image's in their video's also gave them an avant garde edge. In the early 1990s Lennox put out two solo albums, both having moderate commercial success. Also at this time Lennox had two children and withdrew from major public appearances and live concerts. In 1999 Lennox reformed with Stewart to produce an album and a world tour. Eurythmics albums include: In The Garden (1981), Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) (1982), Touch Dance (198?), (1985), Revenge (1986), Savage (1987), (1989), Peace (1999). Solo Albums: Diva (1992), Medusa (1995).

289 Bjork Gunmunsdottir

Born in Iceland in 1966, Bjork has had a long career in popular music, releasing an album by the age of eleven, and spending many years in the alternative punk bands developing out of the youth music scene in Reykjavik. International success came with the band The Sugar Cubes. Her solo output begem with the recording aptlytitled Debut. Her musical identity has developed through her alternative image and unique singing style. Her vocal style and musical mixing of jazz, dance and pop have elevated her to both the position of eccentric 'other' as well as innovative musician. Her solo albums include: Debut (1993), Post (1995), (1997).

Hole (Courtney Love)

Hole as a band emerged out of the early 90's grunge scene in North America. There have been various line-up changes over the years (including - bassist, - bassist, - drummer) Courtney Love and guitarist have remained constant band members. Love herself has become globally famous through her 'controversial' musical performances, her extra-musical relationship with Kurt Cobain, and his subsequent suicide, and her more recent film roles. In fact the band Hole is often represented as a side attraction to Love as a media personality and a self-made celebrity icon. However, Hole's lyrical, musical and visual performances have significantly challenged the patriarchal stereotypes of women in rock by pointing out the contradictions of women's experience in the contemporary world. Hole's albums include: (1991), Live Through This (1994), Celebrity Skin (1998).

290 Kate Bush

Born in England in 1958 Kate Bush began her recording career at the age of sixteen with the release of her single ''. She has since maintained a popular musical presence with a core fan following. She is one of the few female or male recording artists to have gained control and confidence in the recording technology and production work of the studio. In fact Bush has built a career based on her studio albums, having only once undertaken a live tour. Experimenting with new technologies and using the studio as a compositional tool Bush is seen by the media and her audience as an artist in control of her music. Although her musical output has been limited in terms of quantity her fan and critical status remains high. Her album releases so far include: (1978), Lionheart (1978), Never Forever (1980), The Dreaming (1982), Hounds of Love (19S5), (1989), The Red Shoes (1993).

Kylie Minogue

Minogue first started her public career as a child and teenage actor. Her Australian and British stardom became well established through her role as Charlene on the soap . She launched a singer career and became hugely successful in Britain, Europe and the U.S. with her hit single 'Locomotion'. She had considerable success with the production/writing team of Stock, Aitken and Waterman. However she has tried to distance herself form this commercial pop past by dabbling in alternative and dance sounds on her album Impossible Princess. More recently she has reinvented her former popular image and sound on songs like '' and 'Your Disco Needs You'. Although she has continued to act in movies her main following and commercial success has been though her music and concert tours. She has never attained success in the U.S. market since her 'Locomotion' hit, and detractors have often suggested that Minogue is a poor man's Madonna, with Minogue copying her visual themes, as well as her pop sensibilities. Nevertheless, Minogue has maintained a musical career despite criticisms regarding her musical and singing talent. Her albums include: Kylie (1988), Enjoy Yourself (1989), Rhythm of Love (1990), Let's Get To It (1991), Kylie Minogue (1994), The Impossible Princess (1997), Light Years (2001).

291 L7 are an all female group who was formed in L.A. There have been a number of band line-up changes over the years, however the mainstay members include Donita Sparks (guitar/vocals), (bass/vocals), (vocals/guitar), and Dee Plakas (drums/vocals). Emerging in the mid 1980s L7 have managed to maintain a strong fan following over the years. Their sound is influenced by U.S. punk bands such as the , which drew on a 1960's rock surf elements, and the post-punk grunge sound of the early 1990s. They clearly connect with a general punk aesthetic of guitar playing which is simple in structure and melody, using rhythm and timbrel qualities as the main driving force. However, they have started combining other studio elements into their sound in the last few albums. Nevertheless L7 still maintain their reputation as 'hard rockers' through their live concerts and touring. They also have an obvious feminist agenda forming Rock For Choice in 1991, with the Feminist Majority Foundation, raising the profile and money around the issue of . Albums include: L7 (1988), (1990), (1992), Hungary for Stink (1994), The Beauty Process: Triple Platinum (1997), Slap-Happy (1999).

Madonna

Born in 1958 she moved to New York and was in various new wave bands until she got a record deal in 1982 with Sire via a demo tape. She had five hit singles with her self-titled album including 'Holiday'. Since then Madonna has attracted outrage and praise from critics, commentators and academics. Her career became critically under siege in the early 1990s when she released the Sex book and Erotica albums. However she has always courted controversy over her sexual themes and self-promotion. More recently she has re-invented herself through changing musical styles and drawing on and experimental dance production to give her a 'fresh' and up-to-date dance sound. She is about to embark on a world tour in 2001. Albums include: Madonna (1983), Like a Virgin (1984), True Blue (1986), Who's That Girl (1987), Like a Prayer (1989), I'm Breathless (1990), Erotica (1992), Bedtime Stories (1994), (1995), (1996), Ray of Light (1988), Music (2000).

292 PJ. Harvey

Born in England in 1970 Harvey is like many of the women discussed in this thesis, being socialised at young age as musical subject. Harvey's apparently artistic upbringing, with professional artists as parents, and connections with the musical scene, meant she was exposed to blues and rock music early. With two other musicians she put out the album Dry (1992). Her musical and lyrical style has changed since this first recording, becoming less direct and raw in terms of lyrical imagery and musical techniques of recording. Her refusal to be associated with a or label in the media is an interesting representation which raises the question of the status of feminism in the 1990s. Despite her musical changes, she has maintained a critical success, and is seen as a unique female performer, finding artistic success in a male dominated world of rock. Albums include Dry (1991), (1993), 4 Track Demos (1993), To Bring You My Love (1995), Is This Desire (199?), Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea (2001).

Sinead O'Connor

Born in Ireland, Sinead O'Connor has become more famous for her rebellious extra-musical activities and visual image than for her musical profile. Working with various musicians and bands in both Ireland and Britain, she put out her first solo album in 1988 entitled The Lion and the Cobra which remains for many of her fans and press critics the musical highlight of her career. She gained huge commercial success with a cover of prince's song 'Nothing Compared to You' (1990). However, since this recording her commercial success has waned, as well as being vilified by the press and audiences because of her controversial and often contradictory opinions regarding the Catholic church, her own sexuality, and confessions of abuse. At one point O'Connor declared that she would retire from the music industry after having been booed off-stage at a Dylan Tribute concert. Often represented as mad and mentally unstable, O'Connor still maintains an audience following and has appeared on many different tribute albums and projects for other bands and musicians. In 2000 she put out her first full album for many years. Her solo albums include: The Lion and the Cobra (1988), I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got (1990), Am I Not Your Girl? (1992), Universal Mother (1994), Faith and Courage (2000).

293 Tori Amos

Born in the U.S. in 1963 Amos grew up in Maryland and attended the Peabody Conservatory from the age of five till eleven where she studied piano. She developed her performance skills as bar pianist and singer/writer in the band Tori Kant Read. However, her stint as 'rock chic' is represented as mostly an aberration in poor taste. Amos' solo recording career began in 1992 with the release of Little Earthquakes, which gave her both critical and some commercial success. Although often touring with a full band, and more recently drawing on dance beats, digital and electronic accompaniment in her recordings, her musical identity is as pianist and the singer-songwriter. However, her lyrical mixture of themes including sexual violence, child-hood masturbation, female friendship, and her wayward syntax and pronunciation, have given her a unique identity, neither feminine romantic balladeer or feminist folk protester. She has released several solo albums including: Little Earthquakes, Under the Pink (1994), Boys for Pele (1996), From the Choirgirl Hotel (1998), (1999).

294 APPENDIX B USENET GROUPS, MAILING LISTS AND WEBSITES

The below mailing lists, Usenet groups, and web bulletin boards were researched over a period from 1995 to 2000. Some archives allowed me to search particular time periods which coincide with album releases. However, other groups were monitored in real time, sometimes lasting for only a few months at other times over a year or more. The activity and amount of talk found in a group related to the time period spent on receiving email. Some groups ceased to exits while researching while others turned out to be fairly inactive. On balance most groups went through periods of high activity, usually around album releases, and then tapered off or remained active around other issues. Thus there was no systematic plan or sampling frame, rather taking comparative deconstruction as the method, these groups were analysed as qualitative documents rather than for qualitative content. Also listed are relevant websites that have been useful in gaining news, interviews, articles and reviews.

Alanis Morissette

Newsgroups: alt.music.alanis.morissette [email protected] (all onelist groups available through http://www.onelist.com)

Websites: alanis.mykong.com www.alanis.8m.com www.alanismorissette.com www.geocities.com/sunsetstrip/9052/frame.html www.geocities.com/sunsetstrip/alley/3866

295 Annie Lennox

Newsgroups: [email protected] [email protected]

Websites: knappyl2.tripod.com [Red Star] www .seeke asy .net / d / annie_lennox www.vibber.dk/eurythmistan www.well.com/user/sunspot/index.htm

Bjork

Newsgroups: alt.music.bjork [email protected] (Blue Eyed Pop: The Bjork/Icelandic Pop Music Mailing List)

Websites: www.bjork.com www.bjork.demon.co.uk www.bjork.intimate.org www.bjorkdirect.com www .bjorkweb .com www.indian.co.uk

296 Hole/Coutney Love

Newsgroups: alt.fan.courtney-love [email protected]

Websites: clubs.yahoo.com/clubs.holethefanclub dollparts.simple.net.com heavenlyrain.com/cr/ maifest-angel.com/sparks/ [Static Sparks] violets.8m.com [Amethyst Violets] void.simplenet.com/clove.html [All the Stars Belong to Her] www.angelfue.com/ks/northernstar/noframes.html www.delphi.com/courtney_Hole www.geocities.com/babydollwhatawhoreyou are/sugar.html www.geocities.com/retardgrrll53 www.geocities.com/sunsetstrip/concert/9977/hole.htm www.holemusic.com

Kate Bush

Newsgroups: rec.music.gaffa Love-Hounds (Both groups are differrent versions of the same list. Archives from Love-Hounds are availabel at Gaffaweb http://www.gaffa.org).

Websites: children.ofthenight.org/cloudbusting/cloudbusting.html members.brabant,chello.nl/~m.gatti/ [Hello Earth] www.clubi.ie/twomey/katebush.htm www.gaffa.org www.heisjohn.com/kate/ www.white-man-killer.com/kate/the-mute.html

297 Kylie Minogue

Newsgroups: alt.music .kylie-minogue [email protected] Say Hey Bulliten Board (available at the Limbo website http://www.kylie.co.uk)

Websites: www.confide.co.uk [Confide] www.finerfeelings.co.uk www.kylie.co.uk [Limbo ] www.kylie.com www.kyUesplace.com www.kyliewebsite.com

L7

Newsgroups: [email protected]

Websites: members.aol.com.ilovel7 monster .iwarp .com squareweenie.8m.com surf.to/17 [Shit List] users.erols.com/shydoll/17.html [Freak Magnet] www.fentinist.org/rock4c/l_rock4c.html [Rock for Choice] www.geocities.com/sunset/Mezzanine/7404/17.html www.nodeadtrees.comezines/geekgirl/17/ www.smelU7.com

298 Madonna

Newsgroups: alt.fan.madonna [email protected] (archives can be found at http://www.mlv.org)

Websites: www.madonnagarden.com www.madonnamusic.com www.madonnanet.com www .madonnaweb .com www.madonnaworld.dk www.mlvc.org www.ukmadonna.co.uk www .wbr.com / madonna

P.J. Harvey

Newsgroups: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Websites: digilander.iol.it / igniferal/home / stereoUght.com/pj /main.html www.angelfire.com/yt/pjharvey www.geocities.com/lostfun www.geocities.com/sunsetstrip/underground/5190 / dryecstasy html www.geocities.com/twothousandmilesaway www.island.co.uk www.pjharvey.net www.pollyharvey.co.uk www.primalscreams.net/pj.html www.vespertine.nu/ low

299 Sinead O'Connor

Newsgroups: alt.music.sinead-oconnor [email protected]

Websites: www.fly.to/sinead www.geocities.com / lion_cobra www.members.tripod.com/dcebe/main.htm www.sinead-oconnor.com www.sineadoconnor.net

Tori Amos

Newsgroups: rec.music.tori-amos [email protected]

Websites: tori.by.net www.rainn.org [Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network] www.tori.com www.toriamos.org [Really Deep Thoughts] thedent.com/latimers070101 .html www.fasterfind.com/toriamsoring www.digitalrodent.com/itchy/goddess www.discographynet.com/amos / amos.html www.geocities.com / alltheseyearsl www.imabimbo.com/tori.html

300 Women and Music

Newsgroups: alt.music.alternative.female grrrlbands@onelist [email protected]

Websites: girlbands.faithweb.com gurlpages.com/bibeau/index.html rgny.8m.com todayswomenmusic.tripod.com www.comnet.ca/~rina [Women of 1970s Punk] www.dm_T_mergirl.com www.empUve.com/explore/riot_grrrl www.geocities.com/wellesley/3997/ www.gogirlsmusic.com www.greatgirlbands.com www.indieweb .com /riotgrrl/ index.html www.nyrock. com www.riotgrrrl.org www.rockcool.com/women www.rockrgrl.com www.womanrock.com

Music Media Wesites

spin.com/new/home/index.html [Spin] www.mtv.com [MTV] www.billboard.com [Billboard] www.guitarworld.com [Guitar World] www.musicweek.com www.nextmusic.com.au [Australian Rolling Stone] www.nme.com [New Musical Express] www.q4music.com [Q Magazine] www.rockrgrl.com www.rollingstone.com [Rolling Stone U.S.] www.villagevoice.com [Village Voice]

301 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Aaron, C. (1996) 'P.J. Harvey', Spin, January, Vol. 11, No. 10, pp. 56-61.

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